Abstract
As a complement to clinical and quantitative approaches to subdividing the depressive disorders, some recent researchers have taken a theory-based approach and hypothesized the existence of three cognitive/personality subtypes: Hopelessness Depression (HD), Dependent/Sociotropic Depression (D/S Dep), and Self-Critical/Autonomous Depression (S-C/A Dep). We describe and compare these hypothesized subtypes. In so doing, we present new findings from our ongoing Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression (CVD) project. Conceptual analysis and preliminary empirical results from our CVD project suggest that HD overlaps, in part, with D/S Dep and S-C/A Dep. However, the relationship does not appear to be as simple as vulnerability to HD in the interpersonal domain mapping directly on to D/S Dep nor vulnerability to HD in the achievement domain mapping directly on to S-C/A Dep. We identify and discuss three critical issues that need to be addressed to conduct a more powerful search for HD, D/S Dep, and S-C/A Dep: (1) the problem of specifying congruency between vulnerability and stress; (2) surprising vulnerability-stress interactions; and (3) going beyond common language definitions of symptoms. Finally, we conclude by pointing out that research on the cognitive/personality subtypes has a cumulative character and hasn't succumbed to the “General MacArthur Syndrome.”
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358–372.
Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1990). The Cognitive Style Questionnaire: A measure of the cognitive vulnerabilities featured in the hopelessness theory of depression. Manuscript in preparation. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Alloy, L. B., & Abramson, L. Y. (1996). The Temple-Wisconsin Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression (CVD) Project: Conceptual background, design, and methods. Manuscript in preparation. Temple University.
American Psychiatric Association (1980, 1987, 1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (3rd. ed., 3rd. ed. rev., 4th. ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Anderson, C. A., Jennings, D. L., & Arnoult, L. H. (1988). Validity and utility of the attributional style construct at a moderate level of specificity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 979–990.
Arieti, S., & Bemporad, J. (1980). The psychological organization of depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 1365–1369.
Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. New York: Harper & Row.
Beck, A. T. (1983). Cognitive therapy of depression: New perspectives. In P. J. Clayton & J. E. Barrett (Eds.), Treatment of depression: Old controversies and new approaches (pp. 265–284). New York: Raven Press.
Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Harrison, R., & Emery, G. (1983). Development of the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale: A measure of personality factors in psychopathology. Unpublished manuscript. University of Pennsylvania.
Blashfield, R. K. (1984). The classification of psychopathology: Neo-Kraepelinian and quantitative approaches. New York: Plenum Press.
Blatt, S. J. (1974). Levels of object representation in anaclitic and introjective depression. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 24, 107–157.
Blatt, S. J., D'Afflitti, J. P., & Quinlan, D. M. (1976). Experiences of depression in normal young adults. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 383–389.
Blatt, S. J., & Zuroff, D. C. (1992). Interpersonal relatedness and self-definition: Two prototypes for depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 12, 527–562.
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss, Volume 3: Loss, separation, and depression. New York: Basic Books.
Cane, D. B., Olinger, J., Gotlib, I. H., & Kuiper, N. A. (1986). Factor structure of the dysfunctional attitude scale in a student population. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 42, 307–309.
Costello, C. G. (1972). Depression: Loss of reinforcers or loss of reinforcer effectiveness? Behavior Therapy, 3, 240–247.
Coyne, J. C. & Whiffen, V. E. (1995). Issues in personality as diathesis for depression: The case of sociotropy/dependency and autonomy/self-criticism. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 358–378.
Craighead, W. E. (1980). Away from a unitary model of depression. Behavior Therapy, 11, 122–128.
Depue, R. A., & Monroe, S. M. (1978). Learned helplessness in the perspective of the depressive disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 3–20.
Follette, W. C., & Houts, A. C. (1996). Models of scientific progress and the role of theory in taxonomy development: A case study of the DSM. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 1120–1132.
Hempel, C. G. (1965). Aspects of scientific explanation. New York: Free Press.
Klein, D. F. (1974). Endogenomorphic depression: Conceptual and terminological revision. Archives of General Psychiatry, 31, 447–454.
Kraepelin, E. (1913). Manic-depressive insanity and paranoia. In Textbook of psychiatry (R. M. Barclay, Trans.). Edinburgh, Scotland: Livingstone.
Lakatos, I. (1978). Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programs. In J. Worrall & G. Currie (Eds.), The methodology of scientific research programs: Imre Lakatos philosophical papers (Vol.1, pp. 8–101). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Leber, W. R., Beckham, E. E., & Danker-Brown, P. (1985). Diagnostic criteria for depression. In E. E. Beckham & W. R. Leber (Eds.), Handbook of depression: Treatment, assessment, and research (pp. 343–371). Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.
Meehl, P. E. (1978). Theoretical risks and tabular asterisks: Sir Karl, Sir Ronald, and the slow progress of soft psychology. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 806–834.
Metalsky, G. I., Halberstadt, L. J., & Abramson, L. Y. (1987). Vulnerability to depressive mood reactions: Toward a more powerful test of the diathesis-stress and causal mediation components of the reformulated theory of depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 386–393.
Metalsky, G. I., & Joiner, T. E. (1997). The hopelessness depression symptom questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 21, 359–384.
Paykel, E. S. (1971). Classification of depressed patients: A cluster analysis derived grouping. British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 275–288.
Paykel, E. S. (1972). Depressive typologies and response to amitriptyline. British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 147–156.
Popper, K. R. (1962). Conjectures and refutations. New York: Basic Books.
Robins, C. J. (1995). Personality-event interaction models of depression. European Journal of Personality, 9, 367–378.
Robins, C. J., Ladd, J. S., Welkowitz, J., Blaney, P. H., Diaz, R., & Kutcher, G. (1994). The Personal Style Inventory: Preliminary new measures of sociotropy and autonomy. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 16, 227–300.
Rose, D. T., & Abramson, L. Y. (1995). Developmental maltreatment and cognitive vulnerability to hopelessness depression. Paper presented at the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT) Meeting, Washington, D.C.
Rude, S. S., & Burnham, B. L. (1993). Do interpersonal and achievement vulnerabilities interact with congruent events to predict depression? Comparison of DEQ, SAS, DAS, and combined scales. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 17, 531–548.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. San Francisco: Freeman.
Skinner, H. A. (1981). Toward the integration of classification theory and methods. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 90, 68–87.
Weissman, A. N., & Beck, A. T. (1978). Development and validation of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale: A preliminary investigation. Paper presented at the annual convention of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Abramson, L.Y., Alloy, L.B. & Hogan, M.E. Cognitive/Personality Subtypes of Depression: Theories in Search of Disorders. Cognitive Therapy and Research 21, 247–265 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021870315058
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021870315058