On the interpersonal nature of depression: Overview and synthesis.

Abstract

The main theme of this volume is that depression needs to be understood in its interpersonal context. Regardless of what other factors may be involved, the interpersonal context affects greatly whether a person becomes depressed, the person's subjective experience while depressed, and the behavioral manifestations and resolution of the disorder. Consideration of the interpersonal context of depression is simply a necessity for an adequate account of the disorder. A failure to take into account the intricacies of depressed persons' involvement with other people causes one to attribute to depressed persons characteristics they do not possess and to leave significant aspects of their experience unexplained.Clinicians have long been impressed by the impact of depressed patients on others. Consider the following passages from clinicians:Sigmund Freud (1917/1951): Their complaints are really "plaints" in the legal sense of the word . . . everything derogatory that they say of themselves at bottom relates to someone else.. . . They give a great deal of trouble, perpetually taking offense and behaving as if they had been treated with great injustice. (p-247) 3

Whining, griping, and complaining: Positivity in the negativity

“…Listeners often become dissatisfied as a result of listening to others complain. Just as people who are around depressed individuals often report subsequent feelings of depression and anxiety (Coyne et al, 1987;Joiner, Coyne, & Blalock, 1999), people who are around frequent complainers often report feeling dissatisfied. In the Winnie the Pooh story "Oh, Bother!…”

Interpersonal dysfunction in depressed women: impairments independent of depressive symptoms

“…Tweed, 1993). Such difficulties may contribute to the recurrence of depressive episodes, and may in fact reflect underlying vulnerability factors portending risk for depression ( Joiner and Coyne, 1999). Moreover, they may represent one of the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of depression ( Hammen and Brennan, 2001).…”

Treatment Moderation and Secondary Outcomes: Results from a Randomized Clinical Trial

“…The training in social skills and peer-youth relationships delivered in GCBT may have played an important role in anxiety symptom reduction particularly for anxious youth with comorbid depressive disorders. That GCBT relative to CBT/P lowered anxiety symptoms more for youth with comorbid depressive disorders than youth without comorbid depressive disorders is consistent with psychopathology research showing that youth with depressive symptoms have social skills deficits and difficulties with peer-youth relationships (e.g., Joiner et al, 1999;Lewinsohn, 1974).…”

“…It is possible GCBT relative to CBT/P may have a greater therapeutic relevance for reducing depressive symptoms. As described earlier, depressed youth have difficulties with social skills and peer-youth relationships (Hammen et al, 2003;Joiner et al, 1999;Lewinsohn, 1974). A treatment approach that targets difficulties with social skills and peer-youth relationships (i.e., GCBT) therefore may lower depressive symptoms more than a treatment program that does not (i.e., CBT/P).…”

“…GCBT reduced social anxiety symptoms from pretreatment to posttreatment and these reductions mediated changes in depressive symptoms over the same period of time makes theoretical sense because socially anxious and depressed youth encounter difficulties with social skills and peer-youth relationships (e.g., Joiner et al, 1999;Lewinsohn, 1974).…”