|  | Mental Health | Depression

Attributional Style & Depression

A depressive attributional style may indicate depression. Depression, which may also be referred to as clinical depression, major depressive disorder, or unipolar depression, is the condition of experiencing prolonged periods of sadness, social withdrawal, fatigue, and suicidal behavior.

  1. Attributional Style

    • Attributional style is a person’s way of explaining the positive and negative events in her life. Attributional style may also be referred to as explanatory style.

    Depression

    • According to research published in the journal "Cognitive Therapy and Research," those with depression may have an attributional style that holds negative events as being unavoidable and the individual’s own fault. Those with depression may also attribute positive events to uncontrollable factors, such as luck.

    Considerations

    • According to research published in "The British Journal of Psychiatry," attributional style is a result of a person’s mood. The tendency to blame one’s self for a negative event is associated with previous depressive episodes.

    ASQ

    • A survey known as the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) is a research tool used to measure a person’s attributional style.

    Therapy

    • Research conducted with the ASQ, and published in the "Journal of Abnormal Psychology," determined that cognitive therapy may be effective for treating depressive symptoms and improving the attributional style of patients with unipolar depression.

Depression - Related Articles