Causes (2) Psychological explanations of Depression

Psychosocial

• Life stressors as precipitating factors 
• > loss of loved one 
• > threats of important close relationships 
• > threats to occupation, economic loss
• > serious health problems
• Independent/dependent life events
• > events out of your control, independent of person's behaviour and personality 
• > events partly generated by history of depression and depressed person's behaviour and personality 
• Monroe & Harkness (2005)
• > 70% of people with first onset depression have experienced a major life events
• > only 40% with recurrent episode 
• Life events are trigger in diathesis-stress model of MDD 
• > biological vulnerability 
• > stressor more likely to trigger an episode 

Personality and Cognitive Factors

• Neuroticism (sensitivity to external factors)
• > higher risk of exeriencing stressful life events
• Introversion (low positive affectivity)
• > unenthusiastic, flat, bored, unenergetic
• Negative attributional style
• > attribute events to stable, internal causes
• > pessimistic view

Ellis: ABC model 

• Activating event    Negative Event (A) --- Rational Belief (B) --- Healthy Negative Emotion (C)
• Belief 
• Consequences   Negative Event (A) --- Irrational Belief (B) --- Unhealthy Negative Emotion (C)

Beck's Cognitive Theory

• Cognitive symptoms precede major depressive disorder 
• > thinking you're ugly or a failure can lead to depression 
• > depressogenic schema or dysfunctional beliefs, rigid and inflexible thinking 
• > develop in childhood and lay dormant 
• …