Learned Helplessness Model Of Depression Research Articles

Psychomotor stimulants versus antidepressants in the learned helplessness model of depression

AbstractAnimal models of depression which use stress to induce abnormal behavior generally cannot discriminate antidepressants from drugs which are central stimulants and predominantly stimulate dopamine (DA) neurons. Thus these models lack pharmacological specificity. The present study shows that the Learned Helplessness (LH) model, applied to Wistar rats, becomes a more valid pharmacological model if registration of the animals' behavior during the interval between each trial of the LH shuttlebox test is added. The DA drugs amphetamine, methylphenidate, nomifensine, apomorphine, quinpirole (specific D2 agonist), SKF 81297 (specific D1 agonist), and the antidepressants imipramine, amitriptyline, and isocarboxazide were tested. The results show that the DA drugs had an acute effect and increased the number of shuttle box crossings in the intervals between the test trials. The antidepressants had no acute effect and did not increase the number of intertrial crossings in the therapeutic dose range. The LH model thus seems to be advantageous when discrimination between drugs with DA psychomotor stimulating properties and drugs with antidepressant properties is needed. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Effects of narcissistic personality organization on causal attributions.

The present study addressed a central, although neglected, aspect of research into narcissism and attributions, the role of cognitive-perpetual processes and cognitive styles of individuals with narcissistic personality disorder in their causal explanation of events. The extent to which narcissistic personality organization may be a determinant of attributional style was examined. The sample consisted of 20 individuals with narcissistic personality disorders and 20 with neurotic disorders. Participants completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-40 and the Attributional Style Questionnaire. A significant association between narcissistic personality disorder and internal, stable attributions for positive outcomes was observed. The reformulated learned helplessness model of depression was used to interpret the attributional style of the narcissists as means to obliterate experience of helplessness. The results are discussed in terms of the role of self-esteem and maintenance of self-presentation in the skewed attributional biases of narcissists.

Attributional style in the reformulated learned helplessness model of depression: Cognitive processes and measurement implications

Since the addition of attributional style to the learned helplessness model of depression (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) there has been little refinement of the construct of attributional style. The authors suggest that the effects of memory and automatic vs. effortful cognitive processing need to be included in the definition of attributional style. This refinement of the concept of attributional style has implications for its measurement in the following areas: (a) the timing of measurement of attributions in relation to outcome events, (b) the use of hypothetical, real-life, and experimental outcome events, (c) the way attributions are solicited, and (d) how attributions are scored.

Science and the Reformulated Learned-Helplessness Model of Depression

(1991). Science and the Reformulated Learned-Helplessness Model of Depression. Psychological Inquiry: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 14-19.

Vulnerability to depressive mood: An examination of the temporal consistency of the reformulated learned helplessness model

The present study used a prospective design to assess the ability of the reformulated learned helplessness model of depression to predict affective reactions to a stressful event. A total of 131 university students completed measures of depressive attributional style, trait depression, and performance aspirations for an upcoming course examination. Immediately following the exam, subjects completed a state depression measure; subjects again reported their state depression immediately following receipt of their examination grades. The discrepancy between subjects' grade aspirations and their achieved grades was used as a measure of subjective stress. Analyses indicated that a depressive attributional style interacted with this measure of subjective stress to predict changes in depressive mood following the examination, but not after receipt of their grades. The pattern of results is discussed in light of (a) the need for research investigating temporal factors in vulnerabilities for depressive mood and (b) the limitations of the study.

Personality Correlates of Attributional Style

Previous research, much of it based on the learned helplessness model of depression, suggested that a wide variety of personality variables might be related to attributional style. The Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Peterson et al., 1982) and Comrey Personality Scales (CPS; Comrey, 1970) were administered to 329 subjects, and their scores were subjected to correlational and multiple regression analysis. The CPS scales were also factor analyzed, and the resulting scores were correlated with ASQ scores. Results indicated that a variety of personality variables have statistically significant relationships with attributional style, that these variables show significant positive relationships with internal, stable, and global attributions for positive events and significant negative relationships with these same attributions for negative events, and that an Activity-Extraversion-Stability factor demonstrates the strongest relationships with attributional style. Findings are interpreted within a revised theoretical framework, and emphasis is placed on understanding the personality correlates of attributional style for adequate interpretation of the concept.

Attributional style and depressive mood reactions.

According to the reformulated learned helplessness model of depression, individuals who characteristically attribute negative events to internal-stable-global causes become depressed when confronted with negative life events. This proposition was tested in a field and a laboratory study in settings with an interpersonal, socially relevant character. In the field study, the attributional style of 86 female college students was investigated before Christmas, and their mood was recorded both before and after Christmas. The laboratory study recorded the mood of 46 female students before and after either success or failure. In both studies changes in depressive mood were predicted by the Attribution X Outcome interaction. The direction and form of the interaction were in line with the diathesis-stress model. In the field study, but not the laboratory study, outcome was a significant predictor of changes in depressive mood.

Cognitive Styles and Proneness to Depressive Symptoms in University Women

To assess the relations between depressotypic cognitions and depression proneness, the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale and the Attributional Style Questionnaire were administered to 99 university women, along with measures of depression proneness and current affective state. Dysfunctional attitudes and attributional style were both found to correlate significantly with depression proneness, as measured by the Depression Proneness Rating Scales, and with current affective state, as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory and the Depression Adjective Checklist. However, when current affective state was statistically controlled, only dysfunctional attitudes continued to show a reliable association with depression proneness. These results support Beck's cognitive model of depression but not the revised learned-helplessness model of depression.

Helpless behavior (escape deficits) in streptozotocin-diabetic rats: Resistance to antidepressant drugs

Using the learned helplessness model of depression in rats, the present study undertook to investigate the possibility of an impaired response to antidepressant drugs in diabetic animals. Experimental diabetes was induced by three intraperitoneal (IP) injections of streptozotocin (37.5, 37.5, 50 mg/kg, three days apart), four weeks before behavioral testing. Diabetic and non-diabetic rats were first exposed to 60 inescapable shocks. Forty-eight hours later and over three consecutive days, they were subjected to daily shuttle-box sessions for assessment of escape failures (helpless behavior). Twice daily (IP) injection of clomipramine (24 mg/kg), desipramine (24 mg/kg), imipramine (32 mg/kg) or clenbuterol (0.75 mg/kg) prevented escape deficits in the non-diabetic but not in the diabetic rats. However, this prevention was made possible in the diabetic rats by increasing the duration of the antidepressant treatment. Moreover, one week of insulin therapy restored operant escape responding to both the tricyclics and a β-agonist. The inefficacy of clenbuterol (a central β-agonist) in reversing helpless behavior in diabetic rats, along with the observation that triiodothyronine (T 3) supplementation also restored the response to imipramine in the diabetic rats, suggests that thyroid-mediated alterations of central noradrenergic function might be a critical factor in the resistance or delayed response to antidepressants in experimental diabetes. These animal findings raise the possibility of a similar resistance to conventional antidepressants in depressed diabetic patients.

Depression in family members caring for a relative with Alzheimer's disease.

The reformulated learned helplessness model of depression was tested in a study of families caring for relatives with Alzheimer's disease who did not participate in family support groups or have access to respite care. Family members who identified themselves as major caregivers, ie, those providing daily assistance to the patient, received a clinical psychiatric interview, the Beck Self-Report Depression Scale, and a modified Hammen and deMayo Attributional Style Questionnaire. The results showed that 55% of major caregivers, primarily spouses, living with an older relative with dementia experienced clinical depression. Depressed caregivers were more likely to perceive a lack of control over their situation than those who were not depressed. Contrary to the reformulated learned helplessness hypothesis, they did not perceive their situation to be the result of internal, stable, and global attributions. The results suggest the need to study depression in ecologically stressful natural settings and to develop effective clinical intervention strategies.

Real Events Attributional Style Questionnaire

Real Events Attributional Style QuestionnairePaul D. Norman and Charles AntakiPaul D. NormanSearch for more papers by this author and Charles AntakiLancaster University, England.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:January 2011https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.1988.7.2-3.97PDFPDF PLUS ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Cited byCited by1. Learned helplessness attributional scale (LHAS): Development and validation of an attributional style measureOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar2. The Importance of Social Cognition in Improving Functional Outcomes in SchizophreniaOnline publication date: 24 April 2018. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar3. The Depressive Attributions Questionnaire (DAQ): Development of a Short Self-Report Measure of Depressogenic AttributionsOnline publication date: 29 May 2011. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar4. Online publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar5. The relationship of attributional style to agoraphobia severity, depression, and treatment outcomeOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar6. Attributions for real and hypothetical events: Do they predict depression?Online publication date: 27 September 2007. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar7. Attributional style in the reformulated learned helplessness model of depression: Cognitive processes and measurement implicationsOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar Volume 7Issue 2-3Jun 1988 Information© 1988 Guilford Publications Inc.PDF download

Causal Attribution and Depression

In a study using American college students, Seligman, Abramson, Semmell, and Baeyer (1979) found support for the learned helplessness model of depression. A replication with Filipino college students points to the possible confounding influence of overall attributional style. Restated in such a way as to isolate and remove this confounding factor, the learned helplessness model is supported by the Philippine data, and the model holds for affective and somatic as well as psychological symptoms. We applied the restated model to a new sample of American college students and found results consistent with those in the Seligman study. However, the predictability of the model for our American sample extends to affective and psychological, but not somatic, symptoms of depression.

Learned helplessness: An experimental model of the DST in rats

Elevated ratings of anxiety and agitation in Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) nonsuppressors suggest a role for psychological stress in the generation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortical (HPAC) abnormalities characteristic of depression. We employed the learned helplessness model of depression to test the effectiveness of psychological stress in inducing a resistance of plasma corticosterone levels to dexamethasone suppression. Inescapably shocked rats exhibited corticosterone levels that were significantly more resistant to dexamethasone suppression than were the levels of rats receiving an equivalent amount of escapable shock or no shock. These results confirm the hypothesis that HPAC resistance to dexamethasone suppression is enhanced by the distress associated with the inefficacy of behavioral coping responses. The present findings represent the first analog of the DST in the learned helplessness model of depression. This DST model allows investigations into neurobiological mechanisms underlying the HPAC alterations in depression.

The Causes and Consequences of Attribution Research on Depression

The attributional reformulation of the learned helplessness model of depression has had an important impact on depression research in psychology, stimulating theoretical and methodological developments in the wake of its successes and limitations. In a selective review, I outline how the attributional model has shaped my own research and thinking, and note some of the changes and developments in research on depression by psychologists that have been influenced in part by the model.

Coping behaviors among depressed and nondepressed medical inpatients

Sixty medical inpatients completed a variety of psychological measures related to factors associated with depression. An analysis of self-reported depression and coping response indices revealed significant differences in coping strategies between depressed and nondepressed medical inpatients. Depressed patients more often reported avoidance strategies to cope with the stressors associated with hospitalization, while nondepressed patients were more likely to utilize active coping techniques. Since the coping and depression measures were assessed concurrently, the direction of influence cannot be determined. Still, these findings are consistent with the learned helplessness model of depression for medical inpatients and suggest specific psychological interventions for treating this population. Such treatment would attenuate the adverse effects of inpatient medical depression and thereby enhance the desired benefits of medical hospitalization. It is suggested that future research examine the effectiveness of coping in a prospective design to clarify the direction of the coping and depression relationship.

Validation criteria for animal models of human mental disorders: Learned helplessness as a paradigm case

1. Three sets of criteria are proposed for assessing animal models of human mental disorders: predictive validity (performance in the test predicts performance in the condition being modelled), face validity (phenomenological similarity) and construct validity (theoretical rationale). 2. The problems inherent in each of these validation procedures are discussed, and their application to the learned helplessness model of depression is examined. 3. It is concluded that whilst the model has good predictive validity, important questions about face validity remain unanswered, and construct validity has not yet been established. 4. The distinctions between animal models and some related experimental procedures are also discussed.

Depressive Mood Reactions to Breaking Up: Testing the Learned Helplessness Model of Depression

Two studies examined predictions of the learned helplessness model of depression among young adults who had recently ended a romance In keeping with helplessness predictions, we found in Study 1 (n = 68) that depressive mood reactions were most pronounced among individuals who perceived the breakup as uncontrollable and who expected future difficulty with romance. Contrary to helplessness predictions, the internality, stability, and globality of causal attributions for the breakup did not predict the degree of depressed mood. Instead, individuals who attributed the breakup to the involvement of a third party were most likely to feel depressed We replicated these findings in Study 2 (n = 80) and also found that depressive mood reactions were associated not with passivity, as the helplessness model predicts, but instead with increased attempts to re-establish the romance. Implications of these results for the helplessness model of depression are discussed.

Discriminating adaptive attributions: Agreement between self-report and objective ratings

According to the reformulated learned helplessness model of depression, causal attributions are an important mediator of the effects on mood of positive and negative experiences. Adaptive attributions for negative events are assumed to be external, unstable, and specific. In the present study, subjects exposed to one of two attribution training procedures or a control condition made attributions for hypothetical events under neutral and “adaptive” instructional sets. Attributions were rated by subjects and coders blind to the purpose of the study. Results indicated that subjects' views of adaptive causal attributions were congruent with predictions from the learned helplessness model. The ratings of the objective coders indicated that subjects' attributions really did change in response to the “adaptive” instructions in the predicted direction. Implications of these results for the reformulated learned helplessness model and depression therapies that include an attribution retraining component are discussed.

Applicability of learned helplessness to depressed women undergoing assertion training

Abstract The attributional formulations of the learned helplessness model of depression were tested with regard to the model's applicability to women and its implications for assertion training as a therapy for depression. Eighteen depressed housewives underwent 6 weeks of assertion training, participated in an attention control condition, or were part of a waiting list control condition. Both the assertion training and attention control groups showed a significant improvement in depression at post-test and at follow-ups scheduled 6 weeks after treatment and 6 months thereafter. There was a clear relationship between depression and attributional style: the greater the tendency toward attributing causes for negative outcomes to global, stable, and internal causes, the greater was the depression score. Although the assertion training and attention control groups did not show differences in severity of depression after treatment, the assertion training group became significantly more assertive as a result of...

Self-Punishment in Learned Helplessness and Depression

The learned helplessness model of depression predicts that the symptoms of depression should be exhibited by persons subjected to a helplessness pretreatment. Yet most studies of learned helplessness investigate similarities of helpless and naturally depressed subjects on cognitive tasks. This study examined a prominent behavioral symptom of depression: self-punishment. Five groups of male subjects (total n = 40) were placed in a two-person interaction situation in which they received periodic blasts of noise from a partner (experimental confederate). On each interchange, subjects could choose among three responses (noise to partner, friendly gesture to partner, or noise to self). During the middle phase of the procedure, the confederate's behavior was arranged to reinforce 90% of the self-punitive responses made by the subject. Results provided support for the learned helplessness model of depression. Depressed and noncontingently reinforced (helpless) subjects showed a greater preference for self-punitive responses to aggression than nondepressed—nonanxious, anxious, and contingently reinforced subjects. Results are discussed in terms of arousal reduction, depressive attributional style, and the distinction between primary and secondary control.