Posted by SLS on October 12, 2000, at 10:41:38
In reply to For your information, posted by pullmarine on October 11, 2000, at 23:25:22
Dear John,
I took your suggestion and did a search for "depression" and "perception" on Google and Medline.I could find only one paper on Google demonstrating a higher degree of perceptual accuracy than normals. In this study, the depressed (not well-defined) individuals more accurately perceived the degree of control they had over a computerized performance task. The non-depressed individuals over-estimated the degree of control they had on their environment. It seems that this bias (inaccuracy) exhibited by normals serves the useful purpose of producing more reward than might be commensurate with the event, thus increasing vigilance and increasing their rate of success.
On Medline, I found an abstract written in 1983 purporting to summarize the bulk of empirical studies at that time supporting the "depressive realism" school of thought:
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: J Clin Psychol 1983 Nov;39(6):848-53 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Painful truths about depressives' cognitions.Layne C
Cognitive theories assert that depressed persons' cognitions are distorted. Most of the empirical literature directly contradicts this assertion. Using a wide variety of methods to study a wide variety of cognitive processes, experiments consistently find that depressed people suffer significantly less cognitive distortion than do both normals and nondepressed psychiatric patients. It was speculated that childhood traumas predispose depression by preventing the normal formation of a defensive screen against painful realities.
PMID: 6662935, UI: 84112059
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Other than these two examples, everything else seems to be consistent with my more-or-less layman's perception regarding the cognitive distortions producing, and produced by, depression. Being depressed, the accuracy of my perceptions regarding this matter should not be called into question.Seriously, I didn't spend any more than an hour at this. I had thought to quote and reference all the URLs describing the cognitive and perceptual distortions produced by depression, but there were too many. There would be no use to do so anyway, as a majority of opinion doesn't guarantee its validity. Perhaps I only found what I was looking for so as to support my current beliefs.
I don't have very much more than an undergraduate education regarding psychology and sociology. I have not delved into the realm of experimental psychology. However, I imagine I could get through some of the material you have offered to point me in the direction of.
I find the theme common to the two examples above to be a sort of paradox. If "normal" people are less accurate than depressives at perceiving or conceptualizing various aspects of "reality", it is because, to the normal individual, everything seems better than it really is, and that they experience unjustified optimism. It is precisely this "inaccuracy" that may leave the "normal" less vulnerable to becoming depressed in the first place. If this is the case, then this is one of the few times I would rather be wrong about things.
It seems to me that many people suffering from chronic depression look to find some redeeming value to their suffering. This is probably a defense mechanism.
I still can't help feeling that the notion of depression being a vehicle for more accurate perceptions of the world is a bunch of crap.
- Scott
> PS, did you know that a grief reaction is clinicly indistinguishable from 'depression'So?
poster:SLS
thread:42903
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001012/msgs/46202.html