Lauren B. Alloy

Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression

Summary and Future Directions On the basis of the aforementioned studies, the hopelessnesstheory appears promising. However, further research is needed.For example, although powerful tests of the attributional diath-esis-stress component have been conducted, no one has exam-ined the cognitive diatheses of inferring negative consequencesor characteristics about the self or whether the cognitive stylediathesis-stress interaction predicts clinically significant de-pression. Moreover, it is crucial to determine if this interactionpredicts the development of the hypothesized symptoms ofhopelessness depression. More generally, an important short-coming of the prior work is that it has not focused on the symp-toms of hopelessness depression in particular and, instead, sim-ply has examined the symptoms of depression in general. Fu-ture investigators need to test more fine-grained predictionsabout the hypothesized symptoms of hopelessness depression.The issue of the stability of the cognitive diatheses has not beenresolved satisfactorily. We have only begun, in a preliminaryway, to investigate the issues of specific vulnerability and media-tional processes. Finally, further tests of the predictions aboutcourse, cure, and prevention are needed. We eagerly await thisresearch.Difficult methodological issues may arise in the search forhopelessness depression, however. For example, the hopeless-ness theory is silent about the time lag between formation ofhopelessness and onset of the symptoms of hopelessness depres-sion. If it is very short, then a major challenge will be to developmethods with sufficient temporal resolving power to determineif hopelessness indeed precedes the occurrence of the hypothe-sized symptoms of hopelessness depression (see Alloy, Hartlage,et al., 1988, for proposed methods for testing the hopelessnesstheory). The results of work to test the hopelessness theory willdetermine if the concept of hopelessness depression needs tobe revised. For example, perhaps the statement of the causalpathway is correc t bu culminate n a differen se f symp-toms than those currently hypothesized to compose hopeless-ness depression. In this case, the symptom—but not thecause—component of the hopelessness theory would need to bemodified.In discussing how to search for hopelessness depression, wenote the possibility that future work may not corroborate theexistence of hopelessness depression as a bona fide subtype withcharacteristic cause, symptoms, course, treatment, and preven-tion. Instead, the etiological chain featured in the hopelessnesstheory may be one of many pathways to a final common out-come of depression. In this case, it would be more compellingto speak of a hopelessness cause, as opposed to a hopelessnesssubtype, of depression.

Attributional style and depressive symptoms among children.

The reformulation of helplessness theory proposes that an insidious attributional style accompanies and predisposes depressive symptoms To date, all research investigating the reformulation has used adult subjects In the present study, we investigated predictions of the reformulation among 8-13-year-old children Children who attributed bad events to internal, stable, and global causes were more likely to report depressive symptoms than were children who attributed these events to external, unstable, and specific causes This depressive attributional style predicted depressive symptoms 6 months later, suggesting that it may be a risk factor for depression Finally, childrens style for bad events and their depressive symptoms converged with those of their mothers, but not with those of their fathers

Automatic and effortful processing in depression.

Automatic processes require few attentional resources, but effortful processes use attentional capacity. Research on cognitive processing by depressed individuals is reviewed and the following is concluded: (a) Depression interferes with effortful processing. The degree of interference is determined by the degree of effortfulness of the task, the severity of depression, and the valence of the stimulus material to be processed. (b) Depression interferes only minimally with automatic processes. Hypothetical causal mechanisms for interference in effortful processes by depression, whether interference in effortful processing is unique to depression or characteristic of psychopathology in general, and whether negative automatic thoughts are associated with current depression or depression proneness are also addressed. The effortful-automatic perspective has implications for understanding depressive clinical features, treating depression, and conducting future research.

Rumination as a common mechanism relating depressive risk factors to depression.

Rumination was examined as a potential common mechanism linking risk factors with depression. Initially nondepressed individuals (N = 137) were assessed for presence of a ruminative response style and 4 other hypothesized risk factors for depression. They were followed for 2.5 years. Negative cognitive styles, self-criticism, dependency, neediness, and history of past depression were all significantly associated with rumination. Rumination mediated the predictive relationships of all risk factors except dependency with the number of prospective Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) major depressive episodes (MDEs; definite and subthreshold) during the follow-up period. In contrast, private self-consciousness did not mediate any relationships between risk factors and subsequent MDEs. Thus, rumination, as a special kind of self-focus, may act as a general proximal mechanism through which other vulnerability factors affect depression.

Neural and behavioral substrates of mood and mood regulation

A review of behavioral and neurobiological data on mood and mood regulation as they pertain to an understanding of mood disorders is presented. Four approaches are considered: 1) behavioral and cognitive; 2) neurobiological; 3) computational; and 4) developmental. Within each of these four sections, we summarize the current status of the field and present our vision for the future, including particular challenges and opportunities. We conclude with a series of specific recommendations for National Institute of Mental Health priorities. Recommendations are presented for the behavioral domain, the neural domain, the domain of behavioral-neural interaction, for training, and for dissemination. It is in the domain of behavioral-neural interaction, in particular, that new research is required that brings together traditions that have developed relatively independently. Training interdisciplinary clinical scientists who meaningfully draw upon both behavioral and neuroscientific literatures and methods is critically required for the realization of these goals.

Negative Cognitive Styles and Stress-Reactive Rumination Interact to Predict Depression: A Prospective Study

Research on cognitive theories of depression has identified negative cognitive styles and rumination in response to depressed mood as risk factors for depressive episodes. In addition, a general self-focusing style has been suggested to increase vulnerability to depression. The present study used a behavioral high-risk paradigm to test whether the interaction of negative cognitive styles and rumination predicted the prospective onset, number, and duration of depressive episodes in a sample of 148 initially nondepressed undergraduates over a 2.5-year follow-up. In addition, rumination was assessed specifically as the tendency to focus on maladaptive self-referential thoughts following stressful events (stress-reactive rumination; SRR). The principal hypotheses tested were (1) the interaction of negative cognitive styles and SRR increases risk for developing depressive episodes as well as longer duration depressive episodes; and (2) this interaction would not be obtained when a trait measure of general self-focus or a measure of rumination in response to depressed mood is used instead of the measure of SRR. After controlling for subsyndromal depressive symptoms and the main effects of negative cognitive styles and SRR, the interaction of negative cognitive styles and SRR was found to predict the prospective onset, number, and duration of major depressive and hopelessness depressive episodes. These interactions were not obtained when other measures of trait self-focus and depressive rumination were used instead of SRR.

Prospective Incidence of First Onsets and Recurrences of Depression in Individuals at High and Low Cognitive Risk for Depression

Do negative cognitive styles provide similar vulnerability to first onsets versus recurrences of depressive disorders, and are these associations specific to depression? The authors followed for 2.5 years prospectively college freshmen (N = 347) with no initial psychiatric disorders at high-risk (HR) versus low-risk (LR) for depression on the basis of their cognitive styles. HR participants had odds of major, minor, and hopelessness depression that were 3.5-6.8 times greater than the odds for LR individuals. Negative cognitive styles were similarly predictive of first onsets and recurrences of major depression and hopelessness depression but predicted first onsets of minor depression more strongly than recurrences. The risk groups did not differ in incidence of anxiety disorders not comorbid with depression or other disorders, but HR participants were more likely to have an onset of anxiety comorbid with depression.

Stress generation in depression: A systematic review of the empirical literature and recommendations for future study

Within the past 20 years, depression research has given increasing consideration to the possibility of complex and reciprocal relations between stress and depression. Not only does stress increase risk for depression (i.e., a stress exposure model of depression), but depression, or depressogenic vulnerabilities, in turn, also increases susceptibility to stressful events that are at least in part influenced by the individual (i.e., stress generation; Hammen, 1991). The present review provides a systematic examination of the stress generation literature to date, with specific focus given to depression and depressogenic risk factors (i.e., past stress, negative cognitive styles, and personality and interpersonal vulnerabilities) as predictors of the stress generation effect, as well as gender differences in stress generation, the sequelae of generated stress, and the relative specificity of this phenomenon to depression. The research thus far appears most consistent in supporting the role of depression in predicting generated stress, although more research is still required. In addition to highlighting these findings, methodological limitations and conceptual gaps in the literature are discussed with the view of informing future research in this area.

A roadmap to rumination: A review of the definition, assessment, and conceptualization of this multifaceted construct

Rumination has been widely studied and is a crucial component in the study of cognitive vulnerabilities to depression. However, rumination means different things in the context of different theories, and has not been uniformly defined or measured. This article aims to review models of rumination, as well as the various ways in which it is assessed. The models are compared and contrasted with respect to several important dimensions of rumination. Guidelines to consider in the selection of a model and measure of rumination are presented, and suggestions for the conceptualization of rumination are offered. In addition, ruminations relation to other similar constructs is evaluated. Finally, future directions for the study of ruminative phenomena are presented. It is hoped that this article will be a useful guide to those interested in studying the multi-faceted construct of rumination.

History of Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Cognitive Styles, and Episodes of Depression in Adulthood

Participants at high (HR) and low (LR) cognitive risk for depression, based on the presence versus absence of negative cognitive styles, were followed longitudinally for 2.5 years. Reported levels of childhood emotional, but not physical or sexual, maltreatment were related to levels of hopelessness and episodes of nonendogenous major depression (NE-MD) and hopelessness depression (HD) during the prospective follow-up period. HR participants reported more childhood emotional maltreatment but less childhood physical maltreatment than did LR participants. In support of Becks (1967, 1987) theory, cognitive risk fully mediated the relation between childhood emotional maltreatment and NE-MD. In support of the hopelessness theory (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989), cognitive risk partially mediated the relation between childhood emotional maltreatment and hopelessness and fully mediated the relation between childhood emotional maltreatment and HD. Additionally, hopelessness partially mediated the relation between cognitive risk and HD.