试论反应性抑郁形成的心理过程

An Exploratory Discussion

对反应性抑郁形成的心理过程进行解释的理论中 ,较有影响的有精神分析理论、控制理论、认知理论、自我注意理论和行为主义理论。由于这些理论都仅强调某一个因素的作用 ,因而有一定的局限性。如果综合考虑这些因素 ,同时还考虑到评价、个体扮演角色的多少及其采用的应付方式等因素的作用 ,就可以看出反应性抑郁形成的完整心理过程。

Among the theories which shed light on the mental process of reactive depression, the most influentials are those of psychoanalytic theory, control theory, cognitive theory, self awareness theory and behavior theory. The psychoanalytic theory of reactive depression emphasizes the importance of loss of central sources of love and emotional security during depression. Such losses is then posited to produce a variety of intrapsychic consequences, ultimately culminating in the state of depression. Like the psychoanalytic perspective, the control theory of reactive depression also considers the impact of losses as the primary factor in the onset of depression. The general notion is that having experienced with uncontrollable situations, the individual develops low expectancies of personal control over later events that could, in fact, be controlled. These low expectancies, in turn, produce a wide range of motivational, cognitive, and affective deficits that constitute the state of depression. In the cognitive perspective, however, depression is caused by a negative depressogenic cognition or a schema that predisposes one to become depressed when stressful events or losses occur. Depression prone individuals are characterized by a “depressive triad”, which consists of a negative outlook on the self, the future and the world. The self awareness theory of reactive depression proposes when an individual is in a stressful situation and no responses are available for him/her to reduce the discrepancy between actual and desired states, he/she becones deeply self focused, and develops intensified negative affect, self derogation, and.depression Behavioral analyses of reactive depression contrast sharply with other approaches. They define the low frequency of overall activity as the primary characteristic of depression. Particularly the positive reinforcement is reduced by some personal characteristics (e.g., age, sex, and attractiveness), the lack of appropriate skills, or environmental scarcity thus leads to a low rate of behavior.\;Based on these theoretic persperctives, this paper attempts to develop a comprehensive view of mental process of reactive depression. Facing stressful life events, the individual, can pursue two different ways coping. First, when the individual has a high appraisal of behavioral control, he will take some relevent actions toward the events, or, he will seek social support or other sources of self esteem, affection and identity so as to regain the sense of control. If other sources or social support are unattainable, the individual will resort to self defense oriented actions, such as denial of reality, rationalization, regression. Rumination can be found sometimes in those with low personal controls, and results in negative affection, low depreciation attribution, and depression.