Proximal effects of dependency and self-criticism: conceptual and methodological challenges for depressive vulnerability research.
Research and theorizing on vulnerability to depression has expanded considerably in the past 40 years. However, there are a number of challenges and opportunities that cannot be adequately resolved or fully exploited within models of vulnerability that are typically investigated. Continued progress in understanding the link between vulnerability factors and mood depends on a fuller understanding of depressive vulnerability factors themselves. Understanding the proximal effects of vulnerability factors on both mood and behaviour requires methods and analytic models capable of examining moment to moment changes as well as an understanding of what underlying needs stressful life events and difficulties may threaten. Conceptualizing vulnerability factors more broadly in terms of ethological models focusing on social rank and attachment offers a number of useful avenues along which vulnerability theory may be expanded.
Santor
Darcy A
DA
Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. dsantor@dal.ca