Abstract
In accordance with Beck's (1967) cognitive therapy of depression, irrational thinking by depressive was assessed. Depressed female undergraduates endorsed self-deprecating statements and used illogical justification for causal beliefs to a greater degree than nondepressed female undergraduates supporting the hypothesis that depressive are irrational, both in their beliefs and in the ways beliefs are justified.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alloy, L. B., & Abramson, L. Y. (1979). Judgment of contingency in depressed and nondepressed students: Sadder but wiser?Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 108 441–485.
American Psychiatric Association. (1980).Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Author.
Beck, A. T. (1967).Depression: Causes and treatment. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Beck, A. T. (1976).,Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. New York: International Universities Press.
Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979).Cognitive therapy of depression: A treatment manual. New York: Guilford.
Coyne, J. C. (1976). Depression and the response of others.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85 186–193.
Coyne, J. C., & Gotlib, I. H. (1983). The role of cognition in depression: A critical appraisal.Psychological Bulletin, 94 472–505.
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests.Psychometrika, 16 297–334.
Gardiner, P. (1967). Irrationalism. In P. Edwards (Ed.),The encyclopedia of philosophy (Vol. 3, pp. 213–219). New York, Macmillan.
Ickes, W., & Layden, M. A. (1978). Attributional styles. In J. H. Harvey, W. Ickes, & R. F. Kidd (Eds.),New directions in attribution research (Vol. 2, pp. 119–152). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Jones, R. G. (1968).A factored measure of Ellis' irrational belief systems. Wichita, Kansas: Test Systems.
Kelley, H. H. (1973). The processes of causal attribution.American Psychologist, 28 107–128.
Lewinsohn, P. M., Mischel, W., Chaplin, W., & Barton, R. (1980). Social competence and depression: The role of illusory self perceptions?Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89 203–212.
MacNabb, D. G. C. (1967). David Hume. In P. Edwards (Ed.),The encyclopedia of philosophy (Vol. 3, pp. 74–90). New York: Macmillan.
Nelson, E. R. (1977). Irrational beliefs in depression.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45 1190–1191.
Rush, A. J., Beck, A. T., Kovacs, M., & Hollon, S. (1977). Comparative efficacy of cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of depressed outpatients.Cognitive and Research, 1 17–37.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This article is based on an undergraduate thesis completed by the first author under the supervision of the second author, submitted to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with honors. We thank Joseph Germana and Albert M. Prestrude for serving on the honors committee. We also thank James Austin, Stephanie Baker-Thomas, Michael Conn, Nason Russ, Jil Stoddard, Lowell Thomas, and Peter Villanova for assistance in coding data.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cook, M.L., Peterson, C. Depressive irrationality. Cogn Ther Res 10, 293–298 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173467
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173467