Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1962. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 19-20).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Psychology)--Vanderbilt University, Dec. 2006. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Kevin D. Stark. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-132).

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The present study investigated the effects of success and failure performance feedback on subjects' (a) prediction of their performance on a future task, (b) estimation of parental and stranger predictions of their performance, (c) post-task evaluation, and (d) conformity behavior. High and Low Depressed psychiatric patients, selected on the basis of the Beck Depression Inventory (DI) (Beck, 1961, 1967), were given an experimentally induced success, failure, or neutral experience on a task of time estimation. They were then asked to predict their performance on a task of matching geometric figures. The conformity situation involved subjects' estimation of line lengths, after being given an erroneous hint as to the length of each line. The only measure significantly related to depression level was the magnitude of conformity responses, on which Low Depressed patients gave a greater number of inches of error in the hinted direction than High Depressed patients. There was no difference between these two groups on the frequency of conformity responses. It was suggested that the lack of hypothesized differences between High and Low Depressed subjects may have been due to ineffectiveness of the DI in differentiating between depression levels, or due to limitations of Beck's theory in predicting the behavior of depressed patients in a nonsocial experimental situation. The lack of differences between the three experimental groups was probably due to aspects of the experimental situation which decreased the effectiveness of the performance feedback. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

MSc (Med), Population-Based Field Epidemiology,School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / Good and quality social support has been positively associated with mental health and researchers and clinicians are increasingly recognising the important protective role it plays in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA). We investigated whether the mental health (depression) of patients receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) in a public-sector treatment programme in the rural district of Umkhanyakude, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa is influenced by social support and strategies to cope with HIV infection. Depression was assessed in a cross-section of 272 patients (mean age 38 years, age range 20-67 years) with the General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ12). A GHQ12 score of 4 or higher indicated mental health pathology (depression), while lower scores indicated normal mental health. We regressed depression on sex, age, marital status, education, household wealth, social support (instrumental and emotional social support), and 6 strategies to cope with HIV infection. Holding the other variables constant, “instrumental social support” was a significant predictor of mental health pathology (OR = 0.65 P<0.001, 95% CI 0.52 - 0.81). Using “avoidance of people” as a strategy to cope with HIV increased the odds of depression almost threefold (OR = 2.79 P=0.006, 95% CI 1.34 - 5.82), “trying to keep it from bothering” one reduced it by a factor two (OR = 0.45 P=0.068, 95% CI 0.20 - 1.06). 33% of patients were depressed indicating that depression is very common in patients on ART in rural South Africa. In addition to drug treatment, interventions improving instrumental social support and changes in the strategies to cope with HIV infection may be effective in reducing this disease burden among ART patients.

Depression is predicted to be one of the largest global health burdens in the future. As such, it is important to expand the current understanding of this disorder, so as to develop more effective treatments. While somatic symptoms are being increasingly recognised as important, one area that has received little attention, is that of the lived somatic experiences in depression and the psychological meanings behind these. This study aimed to contribute to this by utilising a qualitative approach. Interviews were conducted with individuals who had recovered from depression. These interviews focused on experiences at the time of depression, with an emphasis on day-to-day physical aspects. Thematic content analysis of participants' narratives revealed central themes of disconnection from the body, and a sense of lack and deprivation in relation to the body. These themes were evident in both emotional and physical experiences of depression, indicating a link between these two aspects of self. The psychological meanings behind physical experiences were explored utilising psychodynamic etiological theories of depression. These theories included Freud's theory of object loss, the theory of unmet oral dependency needs, as well as Winnicott's understanding of psyche-soma indwelling. Finally, the possibility of the body as symbolic of etiological processes in depression, was discussed in relation to existing psychodynamic literature on the mind-body relationship. The results of this research imply that there may be a relevant relationship between the experiences of the mind and the body in depression, and that physical experiences during depression may potentially be understood as symbolic of underlying etiological processes.