Abstract
This paper considers the relationship between cognitive coping responses to severe life events and related difficulties and the risk of onset of case depression in a sample of 150 mothers living in Islington, North London. A period between a first interview and a followup interview 12 months later was covered, and any onset in the follow-up period examined. Three types of ‘negative’ cognitive response to a severe life event/difficulty complex were related to an increased risk of depression. These were inferred denial, self-blame and pessimism. One ‘positive’ cognitive factor, that of downplaying, was inversely related to onset. A negative cognitive response to crises was found to be associated with the most serious of the events, defined by their match with an ongoing marked difficulty. However, both matching severe events and a negative cognitive response were required to model onset of depression. Negative cognitive coping responses were also related to type of event: all were related to crises involving partners. In addition, self-blame was associated with crises involving children's behaviour, and there was some evidence that denial was related to pregnancy/birth crises, and pessimism, to health/death crises. A negative cognitive response was also associated with other risk factors such as prior vulnerability and failure to receive support in the crisis. However, when these were taken into account a negative response to a crisis was still required in modelling onset of depression. Issues of possible bias are addressed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Abramson LY, Metalsky GI, Alloy LB (1989) Hopelessness depression: a theory-based, process-oriented subtype of depression. Psychol Rev 96: 358–372
Alloy LB, Abramson LY, Metalsky GI, Hartlage S (1988) The hopelessness theory of depression: issues of research design, conceptualisation and assessment with special reference to attributional styles. Br J Clin Psychol 27: 5–23
Bebbington P (1985) Three cognitive theories of depression. Psychol Med 15: 759–769
Beck AT, Rush AJ, Shaw BF, Emery G (1980) Cognitive therapy of depression. Wiley, London
Billings AG, Moos RH (1984) Coping, stress and social resources among adults with unipolar depression. J Pers Soc Psychol 46: 877–891
Brown GW (1983) Accounts, meaning and causality. In: Gilbert GN, Abell P (eds) Accounts and action. Gower, Aldershot, pp 35–68
Brown GW, Harris TO (1978) Social origins of depression. Tavistock Press, London
Brown GW, Craig TKJ, Harris TO (1985) Depression: disease or distress? Some epidemiological considerations. Br J Psychiatry 147: 612–622
Brown GW, Andrews B, Harris T, Adler Z, Bridge L (1986) Social support, self-esteem and depression. Psychol Med, 16: 813–831
Brown GW, Bifulco A, Harris TO (1987) Life events, vulnerability and onset of depression: some refinements. Br J Psychiatry 150: 30–42
Brown GW, Andrews B, Bifulco A, Vieil H (1990a) Self esteem and depression. I. Measurement issues and prediction of onset. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 25: 200–209
Brown GW, Bifulco A, Vieil H, Andrews B (1990b) Self-esteem and depression. II. Social correlates of self-esteem. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 25: 225–234
Brown GW, Bifulco A, Andrews B (1990c) Self-esteem and depression. III Aetiological issues. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 25: 235–243
Carver CS, Scheier MF, Weintraub JK (1989) Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. J Pers Soc Psychol 56: 267–283
Cohen F, Lazarus RS (1979) Coping with the stresses of illnesses. In: Stone GC, Cohen F, Adler NE (eds) Health Psychology Jossey-Bass San Francisco, pp 217–254
Dean C, Surtees PG, Sashidharan SP (1983) Comparison of research diagnostic systems in an Edinburgh community sample. Br J Psychiatry 142: 247–256
Finlay-Jones R, Brown GW, Duncan-Jones P, Harris T, Murphy E, Prudo R (1980) Depression and anxiety in the community. Psychol Med 10: 445–454
Folkman S, Lazarus RS (1980) An analysis of coping in a middle aged community sample. J Health Soc Behav 21: 219–239
Harris TO, Brown GW, Bifulco A (1990) Depression and situational helplessness/mastery in a sample selected to study childhood loss. J Affective Disord 20: 27–41
Horowitz M, Wilner N, Alvarez W (1979) Impact of event scale: a measure of subjective stress. Psychosom Med 41: 209–212
Janoff-Bulman R (1979) Characterological versus behavioural selfblame: inquiries into depression and rape. J Pers Soc Psychol 37: 1798–1809
Kendler KS, Kessler RC, Heath AC, Neale MC, Eaves LJ (1991) Coping: a genetic epidemiological investigation. Psychol Med 21: 337–346
Kessler RC, Price RH, Wortman CB (1985) Social factors in psychopathology: stress, social support and coping processes. Annu Rev Psychol 36: 531–72
Lazarus RS (1975) A cognitively oriented psychologist looks at biofeedback. Am Psychol 30: 553–61
Lazarus RS, Folkman S (1984) Stress appraisal and coping Springer, New York
Mechanic D (1962) Students under stress Free Press, New York
Miller PMcC, Ingham JG, Kreitman NB, Surtees PG, et al. (1987) Life events and other factors implicated in onset and in remission of psychiatric illness in women. J Affective Discord 12: 73–88
Monat A, Lazarus RS (1977) Stress and coping. An anthology. Columbia University Press, New York
O'Connor P, Brown GW (1984) Supportive relationships: fact or fancy? J Soc Pers Relat 1: 159–195
Parker GB, Brown LB (1982) Coping behaviours that mediate between life events and depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 39: 1386–1391
Pearlin LI, Schooler C (1978) The structure of coping. J Health Soc Behav 19: 2–21
Perry JC, Cooper SH (1989) An empirical study of defence mechanisms. 1. Clinical interview and life vignette ratings. Arch Gen Psychiatry 46: 444–452
Peterson C, Semmel A, von Baeyer C, Abramson LY, Metalsky GI, Seligman MEP (1982) The Attributional Style Questionnaire. Cogn Ther Res 6: 287–299
Ray C, Lindop J, Gibson S (1982) The concept of coping Psychol Med 12: 385–95
Seligman MEP, Abramson LY, Semmel A, von Beyer C (1979) Depressive attributional style. J Abnorm Psychol 88: 242–247
Spitzer RL, Endicot J, Robins E (1978) Research diagnostic criteria: rationale and reliability. Arch Gen Psychiatry 35: 773–782
Stone AA, Neale JM (1984) New measure of daily coping: development and preliminary results. J Pers Soc Psychol 46: 892–906
Sweeney DR, Tinling DC, Schmale AH (1970) Differentiation of the ‘giving-up’ affects-helplessness and hoplessness. Arch Gen Psychiatry 23: 378–382
Vaillant G (1976) Natural history of male psychological health. V. The relation of choice of ego mechanisms of defense to adult adjustment. Arch Gen Psychiatry 33: 535–545
Wing J, Sturt E (1978) The PSE-ID-CATEGO system—a supplementary manual. Institute of Psychiatry (mimeo), London
Wing J, Cooper JE, Sartorius N (1974) The measurement and classification of psychiatric symptoms. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bifulco, A., Brown, G.W. Cognitive coping response to crises and onset of depression. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 31, 163–172 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00785763
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00785763