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The Relation between Contextual and Reported Threat due to Life Events: A Controlled Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

David M. Ndetei  and
Atul Vadher
David M. Ndetei*
Affiliation:
Bexley Hospital, Old Bexley Lane, Bexley, Kent DA5 2BW
Atul Vadher
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, England
*
∗ Correspondence to Dr Ndetei, Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Nairobi Medical School, Kenyatta National Hospital, P.O. Box 30588, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Summary

Following the method of Brown and Harris 30 Kenyan patients suffering from depression and 40 community non-psychiatrically-disturbed controls were studied for contextual and reported threat due to short-term and long-term life events. It was found that the patients did not over-rate threat due to events (in ‘search for the meaning’) nor did the controls under-rate the threat of life events. Some theoretical issues on the ‘contextual threat’ of life events are raised.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 139 , Issue 6 , December 1981 , pp. 540 - 544
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

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