Researchers and theorists have suggested that two personality styles may serve as pathways for the development of depression. One personality style, sociotropy, involves intense needs for positive interchange with others, whereas the other style, autonomy, involves an excessive need for self-control and independence. These personality styles were investigated in the context of Coyne's (1976) interpersonal model of depression, which suggests that depressed persons are rejected by others. Research on this model has been equivocal, and it is possible that these two personality dimensions result in meaningful interpersonal differences within depressed persons. Depressed outpatients, (N=41) and non-depressed controls (N=41) were assessed on sociotropy and autonomy and then participated in a brief task in which a research assistant helped them plan adaptive life changes. These interactions were rated subjectively and utilizing behavioural coding. Results indicated that a combination of depression and autonomy were particularly likely to lead to rejection and less positive interpersonal behaviours. Sociotropy was related to perceptions of interpersonal deference, whereas depression was associated with self-orientation in the task. These results suggest that both depression and personality impact rejection and interpersonal behaviours in social interactions. Overall, this study represents a significant step toward greater specificity in the interpersonal model of depression, and clinical implications of these findings are described. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

D.Litt. et Phil. / Within the South African context there seems to be no workable manual-based therapy programme for the treatment of Unipolar Major depression. The need for a workable solution is steadily increasing. This was the aim of this study; to develop a manual driven therapy programme for the treatment of Unipolar Major Depression which is a short term intervention influenced by the Cognitive Behaviourial model, with the inclusion of exercise therapy. The Cognitive Behaviourial model addresses the persons negative cognitions in a structured manner, within the framework of short term therapy. The person is encouraged to become actively involved: helplessness, worthlessness, and powerlessness, among others, are addressed. The approach towards the General Therapy Programme has partly a behaviourial component and partly a cognitive component (Williams, 1992). Past research (Kaplan, Saddock & Grebb, 1994) shows highly successful results achieved by Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Exercise therapy also addresses the physiological workings of the depressed person (Johnsgard, 1989). Short term therapy is an immediate intervention which lays claim to a higher level of therapeutic activities, along with the identification of a clear focus and the creation of time limitation. There were 34 participants, selected randomly from a population of 85 patients, at TARA, the H. Moross centrum, general practitioners and psychiatrists. Only outpatients were used. The measuring instruments used in this study, were the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Millon's Clinical Multiaxial Inventory II, and the Nowlis Mood Adjective Checklist. The participants were randomly divided into an experimental and control group. The experimental group was subject to a short term Cognitive Behaviourial Intervention, consisting of eight therapy sessions with the goal of decreasing the intensity and occurrence of Unipolar Major Depression. The results of this study, shows an effective decrease in intensity and occurrence of Unipolar Major Depression after the intervention. The influence of the therapy programme on other personality indexes has also become apparent in this study. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy practised on a short term basis, was shown to be an effective intervention, but the impact of other therapeutic models cannot be ignored.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

It was hypothesised that major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with a dysfunctional reinforcement processing system, affecting both simple (“primary”) and social reinforcers.  The main objective of this thesis was to test this hypothesis.  MDD patients and matched healthy controls participated in a Pavlovian reward learning and a social inclusion task, and their neural responses were measured using functional MRI.  In addition, subjects participated in a behavioural facial recognition task.  It was additionally hypothesised that antidepressants may have an effect on reward-learning signals.  Hence, the acute effect of antidepressant (SSRI) administration on healthy controls was investigated in all three tasks.  During the Pavlovian task, neural reward-learning signals that conformed to a computational (temporal-difference) model were found to be abnormal in various brain regions in MDD patients.  In addition, acute SSRI administration reduced the reward-learning signals in controls.  These findings are consistent with existing evidence for opposing interactions between serotonin and dopamine.  Dopamine reward-learning signals are believed to be a fundamental neural substrate for reinforcement learning, hence abnormal signals implies abnormal reinforcement learning.  Consistent with the hypothesis, patients were also found to be impaired in recognising facial expressions of emotions, and acute SSRI administration was found to alter emotional information processing in controls.  Patients were found to have abnormal brain responses during the social inclusion task.  Abnormal emotional and social information processing, both related to abnormal reinforcement learning, may be a cause or effect of impaired social interactions in MDD.

This thesis explores the utility of Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969; 1973; 1980) as a framework for understanding both the personality and cognitive processing styles associated with depression and vulnerability to depression. In two separate but related studies, the present investigation identified depressive personality characteristics and depressive cognitive processing styles associated with each of the styles of adult attachment defined by Bartholomew and Horowitz's (1991) four-category attachment model. Using self-report data from a sample of 305 respondents (225 female; 80 male), Study 1 explored associations among each of the adult attachment styles and sociotropic and autonomous personality-based vulnerabilities to depression (Beck, 1983). Extending the work of Zuroff and Fitzpatrick (1995; Study 2), associations among the attachment styles and the specific components of the two depressive personality styles, as defined by Robins et al. (1994), were examined. Using cued recall of autobiographical memories for a subsample of 44 of the same respondents (35 female; 9 male), Study 2 explored attachment style group differences in autobiographical memory retrieval, thereby identifying specific depressive cognitive processing biases associated with each adult attachment style. Past research has focused on the assessment of memory accessibility, using either recall latency (Mikulincer & Orbach, 1995; Mikulincer, 1998a) or memory generality (Tasker, MacLeod & Maynard, 1996) to indicate accessibility. In the present study, both latency and generality were used as indicators of memory accessibility, and the content of memories was also examined. In addition, use of a four-category rather than a three-category measure of attachment style permitted distinction of cognitive biases for the fearful-avoidant and dismissive-avoidant styles. The present findings support a notion that the two adult attachment styles understood to be characterised by a negative self-view, namely fearful and preoccupied attachment, are associated with depressive vulnerability. Replicating previous findings (Carnelley, Pietromonaco & Jaffe, 1994), both the fearful and preoccupied styles were associated with state depression and with perceptions of negative parental bonding. The fearful style in particular was associated with perceptions of 'affectionless control' in childhood. As the major focus of this thesis, the fearful and preoccupied attachment styles were each associated with both personality styles and cognitive processing deficits which have previously been linked with depression and depressive vulnerability. In terms of personality styles (Study I), the fearful attachment style was broadly associated with the autonomous personality style, whereas the preoccupied attachment style was broadly associated with the sociotropic personality style, as previously demonstrated by Zuroff and Fitzpatrick (1995; Study 2). By focusing on associations with the individual components of the autonomous and sociotropic vulnerabilities, as defined by Robins et al. (1994), the more specific 'depressive' personality characteristics were identified for both these insecure attachment styles. In particular, the findings suggest that a fearful attachment style involves both avoidant and self-critical characteristics, whereas a preoccupied attachment style involves both dependent and self-critical characteristics. In terms of cognitive processing deficits (Study 2), fearful individuals had difficulty accessing autobiographical memories, indicated by delayed memory recall and reduced memory specificity across a range of memory cues. Indeed, these individuals demonstrated a globalised 'mnemonic interlock' typical of depressed individuals (Williams, 1996) and their memories were predominantly negative in content. In contrast, preoccupied individuals demonstrated a ruminative cognitive processing style, indicated by relatively fast recall of predominantly specific and negative memories across a range of memory cues. However, these individuals had difficulty accessing personally-relevant memories of abandonment, arguably due to both encoding and retrieval deficits emanating from their hypersensitivity to abandonment experiences. Dismissive attachment was associated with the avoidant but not the self-critical aspect of the autonomous personality style and involved a repressive cognitive processing style. This repressive style was indicated by delayed recall of specific negative memories. Nonetheless, unlike the fearful and preoccupied styles, dismissive attachment was not shown to be associated with state depression, suggesting that an avoidant attachment style does not necessarily contribute to depressive vulnerability. Instead, dismissive individuals' use of defensive repression of negative affects and memories appears to be an effective coping mechanism in the maintenance of a positive self-concept and a non-self-critical approach. Furthermore, in light of self-narrative models of personality (e.g., McAdams, 1993; Bruhn, 1990; 1992; 1995; Singer & Salovey, 1993), dismissive individuals' easy access to positive memories, particularly personally-relevant memories of independence, can be viewed as maintaining their positive self-concept. Overall, the findings of the present thesis support the proposition that Attachment Theory provides a framework for understanding both the personality and cognitive processing styles associated with depression. Indeed, the findings suggest that the fearful and preoccupied adult attachment styles can both be regarded as constituting vulnerability factors for depression. As expected, the fearful attachment style was highlighted as conferring greater depressive vulnerability. Thus, the findings provide further insight into the factors involved in the onset and maintenance of depression and highlight the importance of assessing adult attachment style during therapy for depression. Other clinical implications, as well as directions for future research, are outlined.

Bibliography: leaves 286-305 / xiii, 305 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1985