Effect of Dysfunctional Attitudes on Orientation of Anger in Major Depressive Disorder

Prof Sadhan Das Gupta Prof Sadhan Das Gupta,Shaoni Roy Chowdhury Shaoni Roy Chowdhury

doi:10.25215/0201.068

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the influence of Dysfunctional Attitudes in delineating the orientation of Anger among Major Depression Disorder patients and control population. Dysfunctional Attitude has long been established as a precursor of depressive symptoms. However there is a dearth of studies on the correlates of Dysfunctional Attitude and orientation of Anger. A total of 60 participants (30 Major Depression Disorder, 30 Control) were asked to fill up a self-report paper pencil questionnaire that measured orientation of Anger, Neuroticism and Dysfunctional Attitude. Results indicated higher Anger suppression, Dysfunctional Attitude, and higher neuroticism scores for the clinical group than control group. When Neuroticism was controlled, Dysfunctional Attitude was found to be positively correlated with temperamental and Internalized Anger in the clinical group; however in the control group it remained uncorrelated with the direction of Anger. Stepwise multiple regressions indicated Dysfunctional Attitude to be significant predictor of Internalized Anger in clinical group while Neuroticism was found to be a significant predictor of Internalized Anger for the control group. The present finding suggests the role of Dysfunctional Attitude in defining the orientation of Anger among the Major Depression Disorder group and also elucidates the relationship between Dysfunctional Attitude and Neuroticism with both Internalized and Externalized Anger.

Highlights

Dysfunctional cognitions and Anger have been recognized to play a fundamental role in the development of depression across time
The high Anger scores were mainly contributed by Internalized Anger scores, as the Externalized Anger and Anger control scores were seen to be lower than the normal group
In this study the Internalized Anger scores for the clinical group were seen to be much higher than the normal group, a finding that is consistent with studies reporting of a positive association between Anger suppression and depressive symptoms (Bridewell & Chang, 1997; Kopper & Epperson, 1996; Cheung et al, 2010)

Summary

Introduction

Dysfunctional cognitions and Anger have been recognized to play a fundamental role in the development of depression across time. It has been identified to be one of the cognitive vulnerability factors to the development of emotional disorders (Lomax et al, 2011; Altareb, 2012), and are considered as predisposing risk factors for depressive episodes or indirectly as a factor of vulnerability under the stressful conditions (Lam. D., 1998). Ebrahimi et al, 2012 in their study showed that with an increase of a level in categorized Dysfunctional Attitude Scale 26 (DAS-26) scores the risk of depression increases 4.78 times. Effect of Dysfunctional Attitudes on Orientation of Anger in Major Depressive Disorder patients. Some of the studies have linked violent behavior (Swanson 1990), greater amount of total Anger and Anger expression (Koh et al, 2002) with depression, while other studies corroborates the concept that Anger aimed towards the self is linked with depression (Becker & Lesiak, 1977; Wolfersdorf & Kiefer, 1998; Goldman & Haaga, 1995; Brody et al, 1999)

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Discussion

Conclusion