Positive life events, attributional style, and hopefulness: Testing a model of recovery from depression.

Abstract

A model of a recovery process from depression that is compatible with the hopelessness theory of depressive onset is proposed. This model predicts that depressives who have an enhancing attributional style for positive events (i.e., make global, stable attributions for such events) will be more likely to regain hopefulness and, thereby, recover from depression, when positive events occur. This prediction was tested by following a group of depressed college students longitudinally for 6 weeks. Although neither positive events alone nor attributional style alone predicted reduction in hopelessness, depressives who both showed the enhancing attributional style for positive events and experienced more positive events showed dramatic reductions in hopelessness which were accompanied by remission of depressive symptoms. Thus, attributional style for positive events may be a factor that enables some depressives to recover when positive events occur in their lives.

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1. Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression.
   Abramson, Lyn Y., Metalsky, Gerald I., Alloy, Lauren B. · 1989 · Psychological Review
2. Diathesis-stress theories in the context of life stress research: implications for the depressive disorders
   Monroe, Scott M., Simons, Anne D. · 1991 · Psychological Bulletin
3. Integrating cognitive and motivational factors in depression: Initial tests of a goal-orientation approach.
   Dykman, Benjamin M. · 1998 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
4. Vulnerability to depressive symptomatology: A prospective test of the diathesis-stress and causal mediation components of the hopelessness theory of depression.
   Metalsky, Gerald I., Joiner, Thomas E. · 1992 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
5. Interaction of cognitive avoidance coping and stress in predicting depression/anxiety
   Blalock, Janice A., Joiner, Thomas E. · 2000 · Cognitive Therapy and Research

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