Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T08:44:49.568Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Relationship Between Depression and Hopelessness

Implications for Current Theories of Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Sheila M. Greene
Sheila M. Greene*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In both Beck's cognitive theory of depression and Brown & Harris's sociopsychological model, hopelessness is given unwarranted universality and centrality. Empirical evidence contradicting this element of the two theories has been ignored, and two new investigations are presented which suggest the existence of ‘non-hopeless' depression. A more complete account of the heterogeneous nature of depression is now required.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue 5 , May 1989 , pp. 650 - 659
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P. & Teasdale, J. D. (1978) Learned helplessness in humans: critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abramson, L. Y. (1980) Learned helplessness in humans: an attributional analysis. In Human Helplessness (eds Garber, J. & Seligman, M. E. P.). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1967) Depression: Clinical Experimental and Theoretical Aspects. London: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H. & Mendelson, M. (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 51, 343–345.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Weissman, A., Lester, D., et al (1974a) The measurement of pessimism: the Hopelessness Scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 861–865.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, A. T., Schuyler, D. & Herman, I. (1974b) Development of suicidal intent scales. In The Prediction of Suicide (eds Beck, A. T., Resnick, H. L. P. & Lettieri, D.). New York: Charles Press.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Kovacs, M. & Weissman, A. (1975) Hopelessness and suicidal behavior: an overview. Journal of the American Medical Association, 234, 1146–1149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, A. T. & Rush, A. J. (1978) Cognitive approaches to depression and suicide. In Cognitive Defects in the Development of Mental Illness (ed. Serban, G.). New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., et al (1979) Cognitive Therapy of Depression. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., Kovacs, M., et al (1985) Hopelessness and eventual suicide: a 10 year prospective study of parents hospitalized with suicidal ideation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 559–563.Google Scholar
Bernard, H. W. (1977) Hope vs hopelessness. Humanitas, 13, 283–290.Google Scholar
Blaney, P. H., Behar, V. & Head, R. (1980) Two measures of depressive cognitions: their association with depression and with each other. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89, 678–682.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. London: Tavistock.Google ScholarPubMed
Cochrane, R. & Stopes-Roe, M. (1981) Women, marriage, employment and mental health. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 373–381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cottle, T. J. (1968) The vocation of experience: a manifest time orientation. Acta Psychologica, 28, 129–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyer, J. A. T. & Kreitman, N. (1984) Hopelessness, depression and suicidal intent in parasuicide. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 127–133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erikson, E. H. (1950) Childhood and Society. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.Google Scholar
Greene, S. M. (1981) Levels of measured hopelessness in the general population. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 20, 11–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grinker, R. R., Miller, J., Sabshin, M., et al (1961) The Phenomena of Depression. New York: Hoeber.Google Scholar
Hollon, S. D. & Garber, J. (1980) A cognitive-expectancy theory of therapy for helplessness and depression. In Human Helplessness (eds Garber, J. & Seligman, M. E. P.). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kazdin, A. E., French, N. H., Unis, H. S., et al (1983) Hopelessness, depression and suicidal intent among psychiatrically disturbed inpatient children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 504–510.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kovacs, M., Beck, A. T. & Weissman, A. (1975) Hopelessness: an indicator of suicidal risk. Suicide, 5, 98–103.Google ScholarPubMed
Krantz, S. & Hammen, C. (1979) Assessment of cognitive bias in depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89, 611–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lichtenberg, P. (1957) A definition and analysis of depression. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 77, 519–527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Melges, F. T. & Bowlby, J. (1969) Types of hopelessness in psychopathological process. Archives of General Psychiatry, 20, 690–699.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Minkoff, K., Bergman, E., Beck, A. T., et al (1973) Hopelessness, depression and attempted suicide. American Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 455–459.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moss, P. & Plewis, I. (1977) Mental distress in mothers of pre-school children in inner London. Psychological Medicine, 7, 641–642.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nekanda-Trepka, C. J. S., Bishop, S. & Blackburn, I. M. (1983) Hopelessness and depression. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 22, 49–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petrie, K. & Chamberlain, K. (1983) Hopelessness and social desirability as moderator variables in predicting suicidal behaviour. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 4, 485–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pichot, P. & Lempérière, T. (1964) Analyze factorielle d'un questionnaire d'auto-evaluation des symptomes de pressifs. Revue de Psychologie Applique, 14, 15–29.Google Scholar
Pokorny, A. D., Kaplan, H. B. & Tsai, S. Y. (1975) Hopelessness and attempted suicide: a reconsideration. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 954–956.Google ScholarPubMed
Richman, N. (1976) Depression in mothers of pre-school children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17, 75–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, M. (1965) Society and the Adolescent Self Image. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarason, I. G., Johnson, J. H. & Siegel, J. M. (1978) Assessing the impact of life changes: development of the life experiences survey. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 932–946.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stotland, E. (1969) The Psychology of Hope. San Francisco: Fossey Bass.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. & Bebbington, P. (1978) The social causation of depression: a critique of the work of Brown and his colleagues. Psychological Medicine, 8, 565–575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tennant, C., Bebbington, P. & Hurray, J. (1981) The role of life events in depressive illness: is there a substantial causal relation? Psychological Medicine, 11, 379–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiner, B. & Litman-Adizes, T. (1980) An attributional, expectancy-value analysis of learned helplessness and depression. In Human Helplessness (eds Garber, J. & Seligman, M. E. P.). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M. & Klerman, G. L. (1977) Sex differences and the epidemiology of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 98–111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wetzel, R. D. (1976) Hopelessness, depression and suicide intent. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 1069–1073.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wetzel, R. D., Margulies, T., Davis, R., et al (1980) Hopelessness, depression and suicide intent. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 41, 159–160.Google ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.