Social Origins Of Depression Research Articles

Attachment, Family, and Social Systems

This article explores the parallels among postwar Britain's “cradle to grave” welfare state with its “social safety net,” especially the National Health Service, the consequent social realism and social upheaval in every sphere of the society, and the birth of the Social Psychiatry (SP) movement in London. From Bowlby's attachment theory, to the pivot from individual to relational therapies, and from research on the social origins of depression in women and Expressed Emotion in family relationships, to the hospice movement, London has uniquely served as a model for SP. There is an organic relationship among these social phenomena in a collectivist society that values “the commons” that created a social safety net, manifested by social realism in the arts reflecting a social upheaval that challenged tradition, notably the class structure of British society. The hallmark of SP is to discern governing patterns across social domains. Anthropologist Gregory Bateson sought “the pattern that connects” while sociologists and systems theorists found patterns in the structures, scripts, and systems of a society. What distinguishes SP is in perceiving these patterns, taking them seriously to re-vision how we think about determinants and influences of mental and social health, and to construct new approaches in psychiatry from research to pedagogy and clinical practice to policy-making.

Opportunities and Challenges in Health Care Equity

Opportunities and Challenges in Health Care Equity

A prospective investigation of the impact of attachment style on stress generation among clinically depressed individuals

The present study sought to determine if attachment style contributed to the generation of stressful life events among clinically depressed individuals during the course of treatment. Participants (N=68) were interviewed about life stressors experienced during a 3-month treatment protocol using a contextual approach (Life Events and Difficulties Schedule; [Brown, G. W., & Harris, T. O. (1978). Social origins of depression: A study of psychiatric disorder in women. New York: Free Press]). Results suggested interactive effects between severity of depression and attachment style on stress associated with future sociotropic and dependent life events. Mildly depressed individuals who reported a dismissing attachment style (higher levels of avoidant attachment and lower levels of anxious attachment) or preoccupied style (lower levels of avoidant attachment and higher levels of anxious attachment) experienced higher levels of stress associated with sociotropic events. Likewise, a dismissing attachment style predicted stress associated with dependent events among mildly depressed individuals. These effects were not present among our more severely depressed participants.

The role of life events in depression in primary medical care versus psychiatric settings

Background The relationship between negative life events and depression is inconsistent. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the hypothesis that depression in the community may be related more to major life events than is depression in psychiatric settings. Methods This hypothesis was tested using depressed primary medical care (PC; n=70) and psychiatric patients ( n=62). Nondistressed ( n=109) and distressed/nondepressed PC patients ( n=43) served as comparison-control groups. Life events were rated using the contextual method of Brown and Harris (Brown, G.W., Harris, T.O., 1978. Social origins of depression. Tavistock, London). Results Depressed PC patients, but not depressed psychiatric patients, were significantly more likely to have recent severe events than the comparison-control groups. Self-reported distress in the absence of depression was not associated with severe life events. Limitations History of depression was assessed using a simple count of number of previous episodes, and the assessment of depression history may require more sophisticated assessment. The measure of endogenous depression used in this study was created post-hoc and needs replication. Conclusions Diathesis-stress models need to accommodate a lack of universality for severe stress prior to the onset of depression. Clinical strategies may need to reflect patient treatment preferences associated with differences across settings with respect to the perceived role of stress in their depression.

Por una sociología de la enfermedad mental: Etiología. A sociology of the mental’s health: Etiology

The etiology of psychiological distress is one of the more interesting topics for all the mental health professionals involved in the social intervention (including prevention). Psychological (cognitive and behavioral) theoretical frameworks have become dominant in the literature about mental illness, A shared element present in ah these models is the individual origin of psychological distress, the high effectivity of the intervention techniques derived from the theoretical work has legitimated the dominant role of psychology in the study of mental health. Focusing on depression, the present paper argues psychological variables are just one face of the problem In this vein. Sociological approaches are discussed, claiming the need for a deeper insight into the social origins of depression.

Cortisot-5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) interactions and the social origins of depression

Cortisot-5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) interactions and the social origins of depression

Building on Construction: An Exploration of Heterogeneous Constructionism, Using an Analogy from Psychology and a Sketch from Socioeconomic Modeling

I explore heterogeneous constructionism, my term for the perspective that science in the making is a process of agents building by combining a diversity of components. Issues addressed include causality and explanation; transcending both realism and relativism; scientists as acting, intervening, and imaginative agents; explanations that span many levels of social practice; counterfactuals in the analysis of causal claims; and practical reflexivity. An analogy from research on the social origins of depression and a sketch from my own experience in socioeconomic modeling are used to motivate and render more concrete the form of heterogeneous constructionism I am advocating.

Life stress, social support and clinical depression: A reanalysis of the literature

In recent years, theorists and researchers have disagreed about the relationship between social support and mental health. Some believe that support is a direct provoking agent (i.e. lack of support constitutes strain), whereas others maintain that support is a vulnerability factor moderating the effect of life stress. Focusing on clinical depression, the article reviews the arguments and evidence supporting a strain hypothesis of social support versus a vulnerability hypothesis. Reanalyzing cross-classified data from 12 community studies of clinical depression, the study shows that the choice of model depends on the specification of functional form of the stress-clinical depression relationship. The linear probability specification suggests a vulnerability hypothesis, whereas the logit and probit specifications support a strain hypothesis. However, theoretical and statistical arguments tend to favor a logit or probit specification, and an additional analysis of data from Brown and Harris [ Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. The Free Press, New York, 1978] supports these arguments. Thus, the study concludes that the strain hypothesis of social support is more consistent with the available data.

Failure to mourn, and melancholia.

SummaryThis paper reviews ideas about depression and mourning from various quarters, particularly from psychoanalytic writings, from the work of George Brown on the social origins of depression and from some of the work in behavioural psychotherapy on guided mourning. Its essence is foreshadowed in a statement of Winnicott's: “If in an individual the depressive position has been achieved and fully established, then the reaction to loss is grief, or sadness. Where there is some degree of failure at the depressive position the result of loss is depression”.

Social origins of depression in old age.

In a comparison between elderly depressed subjects and normal elderly people in the general population, an association was found between severe life events, major social difficulties, poor physical health and the onset of depression. Working class subjects within the general population had a higher incidence of depression and this appeared to be explained by their poorer health and greater social difficulties. Those elderly people who lacked a confiding relationship were more vulnerable to depression. Evidence is presented that the lack of a confidant was a reflection of life-long personality traits.

Book Review: Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women

Book Review: Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women.

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women.

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorders in Women

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorders in Women

Review article

Review in this Article:George W. Brown and Tirril Harris, The Social Origins of Depression.

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorders in Women.

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorders in Women.

Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women, by George W. Brown and Tirril Harris. New York. N. Y., Free Press (Macmillan Publishing Co.), 1978, 389 pp., $19.95.

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article ARTICLESNo AccessSocial Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women, by George W. Brown and Tirril Harris. New York. N. Y., Free Press (Macmillan Publishing Co.), 1978, 389 pp., $19.95.Myrna M. Weissman, PH.D.Myrna M. WeissmanNew Haven, Conn.Search for more papers by this author, PH.D.Published Online:24 Apr 2020https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.1979.136.4a.469aAboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail "Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women, by George W. Brown and Tirril Harris. New York. N. Y., Free Press (Macmillan Publishing Co.), 1978, 389 pp., $19.95.." American Journal of Psychiatry, 136(4A), pp. 469–470 Access content To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access. Personal login Institutional Login Sign in via OpenAthens Purchase Save for later Item saved, go to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry $35.00 Add to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry Checkout Please login/register if you wish to pair your device and check access availability. Not a subscriber? Subscribe Now / Learn More PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5 library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development. Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.). FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 136Issue 4A April 1979Pages 469-470 Metrics PDF download History Published online 24 April 2020 Published in print 1 April 1979

The social origins of depression: By G.W. Brown and T. Harris: Its methodological philosophy

A preliminary assessment is made of the book from the point of view of ‘relative objectivism’, which is defined. The aim of the assessment is to decide whether it is worth while devoting the time that would be necessary for an assimilation of all the findings of a large scale and apparently thorough study. The eventual decision is against doing so. for five reasons: (i) the methods of selecting patients are open to contamination by the views of the investigators; (ii) the procedure for eliciting life events is unvalidated; (iii) the assessment of the severity of life events is based almost entirely upon the subjective judgements of a handful of investigators; (iv) the methods of analysing data appear to be selective and ambiguous; and (v) important conclusions often seem to be inconsistent with the findings. The causal theory of depression finally arrived at might still be worth considering on its own merits; but that is outside the scope of this paper.

Social Origins of Depression. By George Brown and Tirril Harris. (Pp. 399; illustrated; £12.50.) Tavistock: London. 1978.

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