Learned Helplessness and one theory of Depression

The study of learned helplessness by Seligman can be related to the three theories of depression which are the environmental biological, and cognitive. The environmental theory of depression can be linked to learned helplessness in various ways. The connection is that if a person becomes depressed because of an environmental factor such as every day experiences that lead to negative thoughts, perspectives, and outcomes in life, then learned helplessness would take the role of making the person think pessimistically and adapting to the negative circumstances instead of finding a solution and or trying to be optimistic. An example would be if a student is an outcast and is unsuccessful academically, then there is a higher likelihood that the student will present a type of depression because he or she interacts in an environment that is negative in various ways towards his or her feelings. After trying hard to fit in for several years and improving his or her grades, and finally being unsuccessful, then the student will feel he or she is good for nothing and will adapt to the idea. Here comes the connection of between learned helplessness and the environmental theory of depression. If the person is depressed, his thoughts, ideas, and decisions will be affected immensely if they feel they cannot do anything to make the situation improve and will therefore accept that fact that they will not succeed in the aspect of life that is giving them trouble. When a person feels left out of society and all the people around, they will probably become depressed, if it is something that is persistent for several months or even years. This could trigger the depression and also learned helplessness. Once a person becomes depressed, they will begin to think that no matter how hard they try to succeed, they will not able to.

Video about Depression

Environmental theory of Depression

The environmental theory of depression states that depression is not caused by factors inside ourselves, inherited traits from our parents, or chemical imbalances. Instead, it is triggered by everyday life issues, such as job pressure, school issues and other factors from the outside. This theory embraces the idea that after people suffer from depression various times by different causes, they already get themselves used to feel helpless whenever they relapse. One of the major environmental causes for depression can be stress. Stress can come from a negative situation, such as losing a job, a loved one, financial problems or else, although it can also come from a more positive scenario, such as moving to another city or getting a new job. In either case, the pressure caused by such event can overwhelm a person, thus bringing them into this state. It is usually thought that people who have gone through more traumatic situations or stressful moments are more prone to be depressed than those that haven't been through as much.

SOURCE:
ALLABOUTDEPRESSION.COM

Biological Theory of Depression.

The biological theory of depression tells us that depression is not caused by our minds or by our environment, rather by factors inside the body. This implies that unemployment, personal relationships or our surroundings are irrelevant factors and uneffective sources of depression, because the feeling is caused by chemical imbalances in the body. For example, it is considered that a lack of noradrenalin and serotonin in the body is the neurobiological cause for depression.

Depression is mainly linked to serotonin, which is a chemical produced by the raphe nuclei, a group of nuclei located in the brain. Serotonin is in charge of modulating things such as anger, anxiety, sexuality, appetite, mood, etc. According to this theory, people who suffer from depression have impaired production of the substance. Although serotonin is not the only factor that can cause depression, most antidepressants are serotonergic, aka increase the levels of serotonin in the body.

SOURCES:
WIKIPEDIA.ORG
HERKULES.OULU.FI

Cognitive Theory of Depression

Aaron Beck argues that people become depressed simply because their thinking is biased, always siding with the negative interpretation of situations, even if it is not the correct idea. According to his theory, people acquire a negative idea of the world during their childhood or adolescence due to stressful life situations.
When the person with these ideologies encounters a situation that slightly resembles the conditions of the original setting, said schema is activated. He proposed that depressed beings usually share the same biases: arbitrary inference, selective abstraction, over-generalization, magnification and minimization. These are used as quick ways to generalize and make negative inferences about one self, such as “I can never do a good job,” “Nothing is ever going to be alright.”

SOURCE:
http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/allen.html
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