Paul Block

Personal vulnerability, life events, and depressive symptoms: a test of a specific interactional model.

We tested Becks (1983) hypothesis that depressive symptoms occur when an individual experiences a negative life event that specifically matches the individuals personal motivational vulnerability. Ninety-eight undergraduates completed measures of depression level, recent life events, and sociotropic and autonomous achievement motivations. Consistent with the theory, sociotropy was associated with depression level and also served as a moderator of the relations between depression and frequency of recent negative social events. However, sociotropy also demonstrated nonpredicted interactive effects with negative events categorized a priori as autonomy related. Autonomy was unrelated to depression and showed no evidence of being a vulnerability to any type of life event. The findings generally support the value of examining the role in depression of interactions between personality characteristics and life events, although they do not support the specific matching predictions.

Interpersonal and achievement concerns and the depressive vulnerability and symptom specificity hypotheses: A prospective study

Some studies suggest that excessive interpersonal and achievement concerns (1) create vulnerability to depression in response to specifically congruent negative stressors, and (2) are related to specific constellations of symptoms among subjects who are depressed. We tested both hypotheses together in one prospective study of students, using Becks Sociotropy and Autonomy scales, a measure of life events, and self-reported depressive symptoms. Both sociotropy and autonomy were associated with stronger relations between events and depression, but evidence for domain-specific congruence was weak. The specific symptoms hypothesis was supported for both sociotropy and autonomy. We also used Blatts Dependency and Self-Criticism scales in testing this hypothesis. Dependency showed specificity, but self-criticism was associated with both predicted and nonpredicted depressive symptoms. The findings are discussed in the context of measurement issues and research directions in interpersonal and achievement concerns and psychopathology.

Cognitive theories of depression viewed from a diathesis-stress perspective: Evaluations of the models of Beck and of Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale

Research on cognitive models of depression has frequently neglected either the relations between different levels of cognitive-personality variables, the interaction of person and event factors, or both. We evaluated the utility of multivariate, interactional representations of the models of Beck, and of Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale, for predicting depressive symptoms in a sample of 83 undergraduates. Becks model was able to account for an estimated 32% of population variance in depressive symptoms, and the reformulated helplessness model for 19% In both cases, these figures are higher than those found in studies that represented the models more simply. Although depressive symptoms were associated with both person and event variables, the hypothesized person-event interaction effects were not found. The strongest correlates of depressive symptoms were perceptions of upsetting real events. Some of these event perceptions were, in turn, associated with the frequency of negative events, suggesting a need for cognitive theories of depression to incorporate a greater emphasis on the objective role of life events.

Sociotropy and autonomy: Relationship to antidepressant drug treatment response and endogenous-nonendogenous dichotomy.

This study evaluated the relationship of sociotropic and autonomous personality traits with response to pharmacotherapy for 217 depressed outpatients using the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale. Sociotropy was related to nonendogenous depression, whereas autonomy was related to endogenous depression. Subjects who had high autonomous-low sociotropic traits showed greater response to antidepressants (and greater drug-placebo differences) than those who had high sociotropic-low autonomous traits (who showed no drug-placebo differences). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that the sociotropy-autonomy, but not the endogenous-nonendogenous, distinction was a predictor of drug treatment response. The combination of endogeneity and autonomy predicted response to placebo. If replicated, these findings may enable better matching of patient traits to various treatment modalities for depression.

Cognition and life events in major depression: A test of the mediation and interaction hypotheses

This study tested two hypotheses derived from Becks cognitive model of depression. The mediation hypothesis states that the relations of depression to dysfunctional attitudes and negative life events are mediated by the individuals perceptions of those events. The interaction hypothesis states that the relation of depression to negative events is greater in the context of disfunctional attitudes and/or event perceptions, and, analogously, the relations of depression to dysfunctional attitudes and event perceptions are greater in the context of negative events. We compared 65 unipolar major depression patients with 28 nondepressed schizophrenic patients on measures of dysfunctional attitudes, negative event frequency, and event perceptions. We found that (1) depressed patients reported more dysfunctional attitudes and a greater number of recent negative events, and differed from nondepressed schizophrenic patients on a number of event perceptions; (2) the data supported the mediation hypothesis but not the interaction hypothesis.

Specificity of symptoms in RDC endogenous depression

The Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) define endogenous depression by the presence of a particular subset of depressive symptoms. This typological approach to classification implicitly assumes that endogenous and non-endogenous patients differ only or primarily in this subset of symptoms, rather than simply in severity of all depressive symptoms. We tested this assumption in a sample of 80 patients with a current episode of major depressive disorder. Whereas RDC endogenous patients (n = 53) had significantly higher levels of most criterial symptoms than did non-endogenous patients (n = 27), they differed on almost no non-endogenous symptoms. These findings support the concept of a specific endogenous symptom cluster.