Psychological theories of posttraumatic stress disorder

This study describes partner violence in a representative sample of young adults. Physical violence perpetration was reported by 37.2% of women and 21.8% of men. Correlates of involvement in severe physical violence differed by gender. Severe physical violence was more strongly associated with unemployment, low educational attainment, few social support resources, polydrug use, antisocial personality disorder symptoms, depression symptoms, and violence toward strangers for men than for women. Women who were victims of severe physical violence were more likely than men who were victims to experience symptoms of anxiety. The findings converge with community studies showing that more women than men are physically violent toward a partner and with clinical studies highlighting violence perpetrated against women by men with deviant characteristics.

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Gender differences in partner violence in a birth cohort of 21-year-olds: Bridging the gap between clinical and epidemiological approaches

Appraisal of the self-schema construct in cognitive models of depression.

Background. Cognitive therapy for psychotic symptoms often embraces self-evaluative beliefs (e.g. self-worth) but whether and how such beliefs are related to delusions remains uncertain. In previous research we demonstrated that distress arising from voices was linked to beliefs about voices and not voice content alone. In this study we examine whether the relationship with the voice is a paradigm of social relationships in general, using a new framework of social cognition, ‘ranking’ theory.Method. In a sample of 59 voice hearers, measures of power and social rank difference between voice and voice hearer are taken in addition to parallel measures of power and rank in wider social relationships.Results. As predicted, subordination to voices was closely linked to subordination and marginalization in other social relationships. This was not the result of a mood-linked appraisal. Distress arising from voices was linked not to voice characteristics but social and interpersonal cognition.Conclusion. This study suggests that the power imbalance between the individual and his persecutor(s) may have origins in an appraisal by the individual of his social rank and sense of group identification and belonging. The results also raise the possibility that the appraisal of voice frequency and volume are the result of the appraisal of voices' rank and power. Theoretical and novel treatment implications are discussed.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033291799001828

The power and omnipotence of voices: subordination and entrapment by voices and significant others.

Biases of attention and memory in disorders of anxiety and depression

A description is presented of the development of a new scale to measure social support which is called the Significant Others (SOS) Scale. The scale measures different functional resources of social support that may be provided by a number of significant role relationships within an individual's social network. Preliminary results from a sample of mature students show that the scale has good six-month test-retest reliability, and significantly distinguishes between depressed and non-depressed respondents. Details of a short form of the scale currently being developed are also presented.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1988.tb00799.x

The development of a measure of social support: the Significant Others (SOS) Scale.

A description of a social-cognitive theory of depression is presented which combines the concepts of mental models, personal goals and social roles. An analysis is made of how a number of proposals about the onset of depression can be summarized as the loss of a valued goal or social role in an individual who has few other sources of self-worth. In subsequent sections, limitations of the theory are outlined, and the relationship between the present theory and other theories of depression is briefly considered.

Social and cognitive approaches to depression : towards a new synthesis

Three cognitive approaches to depression are reviewed in terms of recent advances in cognitive psychology. The approaches considered are those based on associative networks, schemata, and explanatory styles. It is argued that each of these approaches has significant limitations that can be overcome if they are replaced by the theory of mental models (Johnson-Laird, 1983). A number of specific advantages for this theory are outlined and the basis is provided for a new cognitive approach to depression.

L. A. Champion

Papers

The development of a measure of social support: the Significant Others (SOS) Scale.

Social and cognitive approaches to depression : towards a new synthesis

Cognitive approaches to depression: a theoretical critique.