Interpersonal relatedness and self-definition: Two prototypes for depression
Blatt and Zuroff argue that depression is not one condition but at least two, distinguished by what makes a person vulnerable to it. In one, the trigger is disruption of relationships, with the characteristic experience being abandonment, loneliness and a need for others. In the other, the trigger is a threat to self-worth, with the characteristic experience being failure, guilt and self-criticism. They review clinical and non-clinical evidence that the two are associated with different qualities of current relationships, different sensitivity to different kinds of stressful event, and different early experiences, particularly in the parent-child relationship. From this they propose a model in which onset and recurrence depend on the match between a person's predisposition and the kind of stress they encounter, so the same event is devastating to one person and survivable to another. They place the distinction inside a broader theory of personality organised around relatedness and self-definition. This vault cites it for the self-critical type.
Blatt and Zuroff argue that depression is not one condition but at least two, distinguished by what makes a person vulnerable to it. In one, the trigger is disruption of relationships, with the characteristic experience being abandonment, loneliness and a need for others. In the other, the trigger is a threat to self-worth, with the characteristic experience being failure, guilt and self-criticism. They review clinical and non-clinical evidence that the two are associated with different qualities of current relationships, different sensitivity to different kinds of stressful event, and different early experiences, particularly in the parent-child relationship. From this they propose a model in which onset and recurrence depend on the match between a person's predisposition and the kind of stress they encounter, so the same event is devastating to one person and survivable to another. They place the distinction inside a broader theory of personality organised around relatedness and self-definition. This vault cites it for the self-critical type.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
PARTIAL: page range to be confirmed before publication. The NIMH Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program re-analyses on pre-treatment self-criticism are confirmed in outline through secondary summaries only, and no single citable first author and year has been fixed, so they are not cited in the body.
Where we use it
- Why You Are Kinder to Your Friends Than to Yourself, Why We Care
Reliability of this reference
The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-7358(92)90070-O90070-O)
DOI: 10.1016/0272-7358(92)90070-O