Depression and situational helplessness/mastery in a sample selected to study childhood parental loss

Abstract

This paper continues the investigation of differential states of depression in a sample of 225 women selected for different experiences of parental loss in childhood by introducing a measure of the cognitive-behavioural set of situational helplessness/mastery which uses actual rather than hypothetical situations as the basis for scoring. The measure is also specifically designed to take account of differences according to the time of its completion (before, during or after a psychiatric episode). The relationship is explored between this attribute and, on the one hand, depressive disorder, and on the other, parental loss in childhood. Rates of current depression increased progressively with the degree of helplessness rated not only for the current period but also, in instances where there was a current depressive episode, for the time immediately prior to its onset. For those with depression the degree of helplessness was often found to be higher during the episode than just before it. A measure of helplessness in childhood was associated not only with current depression but with previous episodes. Continuity between childhood and adult helplessness was apparently considerable, and both were associated with loss of mother in childhood. A rating of helplessness shown in the past just before onset of a prior depressive episode suggested a similar raised rate compared to those never depressed. The failure to find an association between prior episodes of depression and current helplessness among those currently not depressed is discussed in terms of the likely durability of long-term cognitive-behavioural sets and the possibility that with improved social circumstances and relationships, helplessness may decrease. The findings are related to work on learned helplessness and low self-esteem in relation to depressive disorder.