Attributional style of depressed chronic low back patients

Abstract

This study used the Attributional Style Questionnaire to study the attributional styles of depressed and nondepressed chronic low back pain patients (N = 91) in order to test the Revised Learned Helplessness model's prediction of differences between the two. The results partly supported the hypothesis; an internal, stable, global style for negative events distinguished the depressed group from the nondepressed, but there were no differences in attributional style for positive events. The findings are consistent with recent reviews of the literature that have reported general support for the negative outcome style, but consistent failure to confirm the predictions associated with positive outcome style. In addition, the attributional style was not common to all subjects in the depressed group, which suggested that other factors may be involved in the development of different subtypes of depression. Implications for studying attributional aspects of depression and chronic low back pain are discussed.

Specificity and Persistence of Cognitive-Dynamic Characteristics in Elderly Depression

“…Self-serving attributions, to this author's knowledge, have not been studied in elders. Consistent with results observed with younger subjects, positive attributional style did not discriminate among depressed and nondepressed elders (Dohr et al, 1989;Love, 1988;Seligman et al, 1988;Vinokur & Selzer, 1975). Clearly, more research is indicated to determine the role of causal attributions in elders' depression.…”

Explaining high rates of depression in chronic pain: A diathesis-stress framework.

“…The third hypothesis proposes that depression is a psychological reaction to the experience of chronic pain (Hendler, 1984;Sternbach, 1974). A number of investigators have provided and reviewed evidence for the role of both cognitive factors (e.g., Lefebvre, 1981;Love, 1988;Smith, Peck, Milano, & Ward, 1988;Sullivan & D'Eon, 1990), behavioral factors (e.g., Fordyce, 1976), and a combination of the two (e.g., Rudy et al, 1988;Turk, Meichenbaum, &Genest, 1983) as mediators of the relationship between pain and depression. Lindsay and Wyckoff (1981) examined 226 patients' recollections of whether their depression preceded, followed, or developed simultaneously with the onset of their pain.…”

“…Whereas one study (Love, 1988) observed that depressed pain patients were more likely than nondepressed patients to exhibit an internal, stable, and global attributional style for negative (but not positive) outcomes, another study (Ingram et al, 1990) was unable to find significant differences in attributional style between depressed and nondepressed chronic pain patients. Cheatle, Brady, and Ruland (1990) found that a composite score of internal, stable, and global attributional styles in response to negative outcomes was associated with depression among a group of chronic pain patients.…”

Volitional Action Control and Depression in Chronic Pain: Does Action versus State Orientation Moderate the Relations of Pain-Related Cognitions to Depression?

“…Remarkably, a majority of studies concerning (learned) helplessness and depression in chronic pain solely refer to the research of Seligman and colleagues (Abramson et al, 1978;Hiroto & Seligman, 1975;Seligman, 1972), who attributed depression-like performance deficits following exposure to uncontrollable failure to a generalized motivational deficit (i.e., lack of effort) mediated by subjective helplessness (e.g., Banks & Kerns, 1996;Hülsebusch et al, 2016;Klasen et al, 2006;Love, 1988;Pellino & Oberst, 1992;Samwel et al, 2007;Skevington, 1983;Smith et al, 1994). Kuhl and colleagues (Brunstein, 1990;Kuhl, 1981;Kuhl & Weiß, 1994), however, showed that the transfer of depression-like performance deficits from training tasks to (compared to the training) dissimilar test tasks in learned helplessness experiments rather were due to a volitional deficit: a general self-regulatory inability to cope with uncontrollable failure, state-oriented cognitions, and emotional distress.…”