Depression and the Response of Others: A Social-Cognitive Interpersonal Process Model

In the mid-1970s, several important publications indicated that interpersonal processes could play an important role in the development, maintenance, and exacerbation of depression. These studies showed, for example, that the interpersonal behaviors of depressed individuals differed from those of nondepressed persons (Forrest & Hokanson, 1975), and that other people responded more negatively to depressed persons-typically experiencing more negative affective reactions and a desire to avoid future contact with the depressed person (Coyne, 1976). Subsequent research reinforced these findings and suggested that intrapersonal theories of depression, such as cognitive and attributional formulations (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978; Beck, 1967), did not adequately account for the role that the interpersonal environment played in the development and manifestation of depressive symptoms (Sacco & Hokanson, 1978, 1982). Although a plethora of studies have since demonstrated the importance of interpersonal aspects of depression a oiner, 2000; Joiner & Coyne, 1999; Segrin & Dillard, 1992), debates about the relative contribution of interpersonal versus intra-personal factors continue (Coyne & Gotlib, 1983; Lau, Gemar, & Segal, 2000)