The Interactional Nature of Depression

Abstract

The Interactional Nature of Depression. Thomas Joiner, and James C. Coyne, (Eds.)- Washington, DC: American Psychological Association (www.apa.orrg). 1999, 440 pp., $39.95 (hardcover). In 1976, James Coyne published a paper on the interactional context of depression that set the proverbial cat among the pigeons of existing psychological theories of the disorder. Whereas most theories invoked intrapsychic processes and structures, Coyne proposed that depressed people's repetitive reassurance seeking and doubting of the genuineness of the feedback that results, brings about a destructive cycle of interpersonal rejection that deepens their misery. More than two decades later, Coyne has teamed up with Thomas Joiner to review research and theory motivated by the interpersonal approach, and by the desire to integrate it with other psychological accounts of depression. The product of their labors is a hefty, well-produced volume that offers a vivid portrait of the state-of-the-art, warts and all. The book's 14 chapters bring together a collection of prominent researchers, many of them central figures in the cognitive approach to psychopathology and its treatment. Most chapters offer exhaustively referenced reviews of particular research literatures-almost one quarter of the book's pages are consumed by reference lists!-combined with models intended to integrate interpersonal variables into other established accounts. Generally, the contributors suggest directions for future research, and several draw out implications for the practice of psychotherapy for depression. Chapters provide overviews of the interpersonal dimensions of depression (Joiner, Coyne & Blalock; Hammen; Sacco), and discuss the roles of coping strategies (Holahan, Moos, & Bonin), loneliness and shyness (Dill & Anderson), maladaptive schemas (Schmidt, Schmidt, & Young), self-esteem vulnerability (Roberts & Monroe), self-verification (Giesler & Swann), and marital discord (Anderson, Beach, & Kaslow). Two chapters focus on developmental issues-the origins of attributional style (Haines, Metalsky, Cardamone, & Joiner) and the effects of depressed parents and family functioning on children (Cummings & Davies)-and two more present emerging interpersonal theories of depression, one feminist and phenomenological (Jack), the other evolutionary or "sociophysiological" (Gardner & Price). Coyne rounds out the book with a bracing postscript. Although all of the chapters deserve a close reading, a few stand out. Haines and colleagues give long overdue attention to the sources of depressogenic attributional style, a construct that is usually taken as a given in adulthood and ascribed to unspecified early experiences. Haines and colleagues show that a great variety of developmental influences, chiefly social, may bear on this important cognitive variable. Roberts and Monroe provide a masterful review of the relations between self-esteem and depression, demonstrating that in addition to the simple level of self-esteem, researchers and therapists must attend to its reactivity, stability, and regulatory processes. These variables may be more illuminating about the nature and etiology of depression, and are both comprehensible in terms of socialcognitive mechanisms and affected by social experiences. Giesler and Swann offer a fascinating review of the extensive and often counterintuitive research findings on self-confirmation in depression, according to which depressives desire verification of negative self-views and seek interactants who act as accomplices in maintaining these views. Anderson and colleagues give a fine and wide-ranging review of the links between marital distress and depression, which also has the merit of drawing heuristic connections to attachment theory. Coyne's postscript is a particularly important chapter, sounding some sour notes about the research presented in the preceding chapters. …