Defense Mechanisms in Mania,Bipolar Depression and Unipolar Depression

The present study compared the use of defense mechanisms in ten bipolar manic, ten bipolar depressed and ten unipolar depressed patients. The defense mechanisms were assessed by two methods: TAT stories scored by Defense Mechanism Manual and Defense Mechanism Rating Scale ratings of psychodynamic interviews. The severity of symptoms was assessed by Beck Depression Inventory for depressed patients and Young’s Manic Rating Scale for manic patients. Both bipolar manic and depressed groups used the defense mechanism of denial, borderline level defenses and immature defenses significantly more than the unipolar depression group. The manic group showed greater dependence on narcissistic level defenses as compared to the other two groups. Positive relationships were found between severity of manic symptoms and the defense mechanisms of denial as well as the narcissistic level defenses. The bipolar depression group also used more action level defenses as compared to the unipolar depression group. The unipolar depression group scored higher on the defense mechanism of identification and adaptive level defenses as compared to the manic group. A negative correlation was found between the severity of depressive symptoms for unipolar depression group and the defense mechanism of identification. The neurotic level defenses were used most frequently by unipolar depression group, followed by the bipolar depression group and manic group. Some of these findings are in consonance with the psychoanalytic understanding of mania and depression.     

Difficulties in the Treatment of Depression During Pregnancy and Postpartum Depression

Treatment with women who become depressed during pregnancy or who develop postpartum depression can be challenging. In certain cases where women have a poor parental representation rooted in a negative relationship with their own mothers, a powerful resistance emerges and can take the form of abandoning the treatment. For women who have a history of abandonment by one of the parents, this particular aspect of the relationship may be repeated. In others, where there is a great deal of anger towards the parent, in spite of conscious wishes to be different, there is an identification with this negative parental image; the new mother feels herself to be a bad mother and flees the treatment as a way to protect the baby. Biological as well as psychological factors present during pregnancy and postpartum depression, as well as the impact of the mother’s depression on the developing infant are described and clinical vignettes are provided to illustrate the main points.     

Depression and Hostility in Self-Mutilation

The presence of depression and hostility among self-mutilating patients is investigated. Mutilators, depressives and controls comprised the research samples. Non-significant differences in intropunitive hostility and depression were found between the clinical groups. Specific item differences in the depression assessment indicated a definite qualitative rather than quantitative difference in depressive symptomatology between the clinical groups. The interaction between hostility and depression and the implications for management based on these results is discussed.     

Cognitive Reappraisal and Depression in Children with a Parent History of Depression

Although decades of research have documented that children whose parents have a history of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are at a higher risk of developing depression themselves, not all of these children go on to develop depression themselves, thus highlighting the need to understand potential moderators of risk. The current study examined whether child emotion regulation, specifically, the use of cognitive reappraisal and suppression, moderated the link between parent and child depression. We recruited 458 parents and their children between the ages of 7–11 from the community. The majority of children were Caucasian (74.2%) and approximately half were girls (46.1%). Among children with a parent history of MDD, those who reported using cognitive reappraisal more frequently were less likely to have a history of depressive diagnoses themselves and had higher current levels of positive affect. Although children’s use of suppression was not associated with their levels of depressive symptoms among children with a parent history of MDD, higher levels of suppression were related to higher levels of depressive symptoms among children with no parent history of MDD. These findings suggest that, among children with a history of parent depression, children’s use of cognitive reappraisal may influence their own risk for developing depression and highlights the potential utility of early interventions that focus on improving the use of emotion regulation strategies like cognitive reappraisal among children of depressed parents.     

Depression and motivation

Among the characteristic features of depression is a diminishment in or lack of action and motivation. In this paper, I consider a dominant philosophical account which purports to explain this lack of action or motivation. This approach comes in different versions but a common theme is, I argue, an over reliance on psychologistic assumptions about action–explanation and the nature of motivation. As a corrective I consider an alternative view that gives a prominent place to the body in motivation. Central to the experience of depression are changes to how a person is motivated to act and, also as central, are changes to bodily feelings and capacities. I argue that broadly characterizing motivation in terms of bodily capacities can, in particular, provide a more compelling account of depressive motivational pathology.     

细胞因子和抑郁症

在心理神经免疫学领域,越来越多的证据表明神经和免疫之间存在双向交流通路,免疫系统可能在一些心理精神障碍中具有重要作用。“抑郁症的细胞因子假说”认为细胞因子作为神经调质,可能在抑郁症的病因和病理过程中具有重要作用。这个假说得到了很多证据的支持。而在动物身上应用前炎性细胞因子也能够引起与人类抑郁症行为症状非常类似的“病态行为”。研究认为外周细胞因子通过信号传导进入脑内与中枢产生的细胞因子共同作用于下丘脑－垂体－肾上腺轴和5－羟色胺系统,从而导致抑郁症。细胞因子的中枢效应可以解释很多抑郁症状,“抑郁症的细胞因子假说”为探讨抑郁症状的机制和治疗抑郁症提供了一个新的视角     

Codependency and Depression

SUMMARY

The focus of this study was to investigate a correlation between codependency and depression. The instruments that were used for the study were the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and The Awareness Activity: How Codependent Are You? Results of this study were based on 149 paired inventories. The individuals who volunteered to complete the inventories were selected from three clinical settings in the New Orleans area; Subjects utilized were adults of both sexes and all ages. There was a strong, positive correlation between the two variables, codependency and depression, of .5966 (p < .00001). When the relationship between codependency and depression was assessed for each of the separate groups, the same trend prevailed across all three groups.

While one cannot conclude from this study that codependency and depression are equal, one may suggest that a relationship exists between them. These findings indicate that if a person reports himself/herself to be highly codependent, he/she is likely to experience an elevated level of depression.     

Myths and Mates in Childbearing Depression

Abstract

Many myths exist about postpartum depression (PPD), all of which are based on the assumption that PPD differs qualitatively from depression that occurs at other times in women's lives. These myths paint a misleading picture of how PPD arises and may prevent women from receiving treatment for their difficulties. In this article, I identify five common myths and review the research literature to demonstrate that each lacks an empirical basis. Next, I present a model based on attachment theory, which I use to conceptualize PPD that occurs in the context of relationship distress. Finally, I illustrate this model with a clinical case.     

Depression and suicide in schizophrenic patients

This study supports the idea that schizophrenic patients represent a distinctive subgroup of patients who can suffer from a major depressive illness and also can commit suicide. The study showed that 22.4% of the schizophrenic population in a medium-sized psychiatric facility showed severe depressive symptoms that met the criteria for the diagnosis of a major depressive episode according to the DSM-III classification. Seven patients committed suicide during the acute phase of the illness--five during hospitalization, and two within a year of discharge. Nine patients attempted suicide during the hospitalization period, and 10 attempted suicide within a year of discharge. Nearly one-third (215) of the patients were readmitted during that year because of a recurrence of acute schizophrenic symptoms; of these, 84 were having severe depressive symptoms. The study also provides indications of the causes of suicide in these patients.     

Depression and Mortality in the Elderly

It is well known that depression can be a consequence of medical illness and disability, but a growing literature suggests also that depression can cause biological changes linked to morbidity and mortality. Depression is strongly implicated as a contributor to cardiovascular disease and mortality. Using the cascade-to-death model as a conceptual framework, we explore the complex relations among behavior, affect, motivation, and pathophysiology that might account for the association between depression and premature death. Our model suggests that some individuals become entrapped in a downward spiral in which behavior, medical illness, and depressive affect feed on each other to undermine the biological integrity of the organism. In addition to specifying behavioral and biological mechanisms linking depression to mortality, future research needs to more closely examine phenomenological aspects of depression in order to determine what aspects of depression and related constructs such ashopelessness, vital exhaustion, and motivational depletion account for the link between depression and mortality.     

Depression and stress in street youth

The present study explored stress and depression levels in Canadian street youth, as well as the methods they used to cope. Twenty-seven street youth and 27 nonrunaway peers responded to a questionnaire investigating history of running away, depression level, coping strategies, family history, and stress. Analyses revealed that stress and depression were positively correlated for the street youth, and that these youth had higher levels, compared with nonrunaways, of both. There were also differences in coping strategies: street youth were more likely to engage in acts of self-harm and to use drugs and alcohol, while nonrunaways more frequently resorted to productive problem solving and disclosure/discussion with someone they trust.     

Depression and suicidality in obese patients

In a sample of 50 psychiatric patients, suicidality as measured by a 54-item scale was associated with scores on scales to assess the presence of comorbidities, family history, medical factors, clinical ratings of psychiatric diagnosis, psychosocial/environmental factors, and protective factors (multiple R2 = .66).     

Depression

Abstract— The theory of clinical depression presented here integrates etiological factors, changes in specific structural and cellular substrates, ensuing symptomatology, and treatment and prevention. According to this theory, important etiological factors, such as stress, can suppress the production of new neurons in the adult human brain, thereby precipitating or maintaining a depressive episode. Most current treatments for depression are known to elevate brain serotonin neurotransmission, and such increases in serotonin have been shown to significantly augment the ongoing rate of neurogenesis, providing the neural substrate for new cognitions to be formed, and thereby facilitating recovery from the depressive episode. This theory also points to treatments that augment neurogenesis as new therapeutic opportunities.     

Depression

Beck initially set out to test the Freudian notion that depression is a consequence of “anger turned inward” (rage directed the introjected parent for not gratifying infantile desires) but soon came to conclude that no such unconscious motivation existed and that instead depressed patients actually believe that they were unlovable or inadequate. He developed a treatment that he named cognitive therapy that is as efficacious as and more enduring than antidepressant medications. It stands as the most often tested and most widely practiced treatment for depression.