The Role of the Self in Depression

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The Role of the Self in Depression
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Depression stats

• Prevalence 20 of U.S. population
• Women are twice as likely as men to be depressed.

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Characteristics of Depressed People

• Feelings of
• Hopelessnesstheres nothing anyone can do to
  make it better.
• Helplessnesstheres nothing I can do to make it
  better.
• WorthlessnessIm a weak, inadequate person a
  failure.

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Characteristics of Depressed People

• Distorted thinking
• Dwelling on negative aspects of life and self.
• Negative interpretations of ambiguous events.
• Internal attributions for failure.

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Characteristics of Depressed People

• Self-focused attention
• More time spent thinking about self, especially
  after negative events.
• Ruminative coping style- thinking about how sad
  you are.
• Women ruminate more than men.

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What Causes Depression?

• Diathesis-Stress Model
• Diatheses-factors that make certain people more
  vulnerable than others.
• Stress-negative life events that may bring on
  depressive episodes.
• Diathesis Stress Depression

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What Causes Depression?

• Self-Esteem Risk Factors
• Low SE
• Contingent SE
• Labile (variable) SE

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Becks Model of Depression

• Beck assumes
• 1. Depressed people have negative
  self-evaluations.
• 2. Depressed people focus more on negative
  information than positive information.
• 3. Dysfunctional beliefs make people more
  vulnerable to depression.

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What Causes Depression?

• Attributional Models
• Helplessness Model of Depression
• Depression results when people,
• Perceive that important events are beyond their
  control
• Attribute negative events to internal, stable,
  and global causes.

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Positive Illusions and Mental Health
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Do people possess accurate self-knowledge?

• NO!
• BTA effect
• Self-other bias
• Illusion of control
• Unrealistic optimism

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Do people really believe theyre so wonderful?

• Maybe
• Not limited to students
• Occurs even when anonymous

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Benefits of Positive Illusions

• Positive illusions are correlated with happiness.
• Self-efficacy is more predictive of success than
  actual ability.
• Positive illusions help people cope with illness.
• Optimism is correlated with recovery from illness.

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Limits and Costs of Positive Illusions

• Overly positive self-views (e.g., narcissism)
• Exaggerated perceptions of control
• Excessive optimism