Depression Theories

Julian B Rotter
"Behavior Potential (BP), Expectancy (E) and Reinforcement Value (RV) can be combined into a predictive formula for behavior: BP = f(E & RV)"

This formula can be read as follows: behavior potential is a function of expectancy and reinforcement value. Or, in other words, the likelihood of a person's exhibiting a particular behavior is a function of the probability that that behavior will lead to a given outcome and the desirability of that outcome. If expectancy and reinforcement value are both high, then behavior potential will be high. If either expectancy or reinforcement value is low, then behavior potential will be lower. Again, one can see the importance of conceiving of personality as the interaction of the person and the environment.

Albert Bandura
I just realized this guy was the same guy who carried out the Stanford jail experiment! the one cancelled before time becuase the subject could not handle it! its good to have a glympse to the past. Bandura pioneered the study of observational learning.He believed that, rather than operating in a mechanistic way, reinforcement provides information about future reinforcement. Such information can be gleaned by watching models' behavior rather than by behaving in a particular way and experiencing the consequences oneself.

Martin Selligman
The phenomenon of learned helplessness bears much in common with depression in humans. Such people are hypothesized to be more predisposed to depression than people with an optimistic explanatory style, who explain negative events as unstable, specific, and external.

Aaron Beck

Cognitive behavioral theorists suggest that depression results from maladaptive, faulty, or irrational cognitions taking the form of distorted thoughts and judgments. Depressive cognitions can be learned socially as is the case when children in a disfunctional family watch their parents fail to successfully cope with stressful experiences or traumatic events. Or, depressive cognitions can result from a lack of experiences that would facilitate the development of adaptive coping skills.

The Lobotomist

The theory of frontal lobotomy is to separate frontal lobe with the rest of your brain and to stop the emotional access for people suffering from mental disorders. The patients (retarded, manic…) were all kept in an asylum without any real treatment. Doctor Walter Freeman was disgusted; he saw them as people who did not require sympathy, but action. A neurologist without surgical training, he was called the Maverick Medical Genius. In 1930’s, they were trying shock therapies; the patients left the table subdued, proving to Freeman that mental disorders come from the brain. In 1936 he made a discovery. He picked up an obscure procedure done by a Portuguese doctor, Egas Moniz, which consisted of actually opening the skull, but with no real understanding of the source of outcome. It showed that the first patient to receive this procedure, after waking, had a placid expression. So Freeman, with the help of doctor James Watts, went on to perfect the technique so he operated on conscious patients to see their reaction. This was called by many as a medical turning point. Even the patients with the most favorable outcomes had problems pursuing actions in daily life. Despite the long side effects, Freeman still performed it on a large number of patients.

In 1954, a new drug called Thorazine produced results similar to those of lobotomy, except for the fact it does not directly operate on the brain. With the emergence of this pill, Freeman’s opportunities to operate vanished. This drug had effects similar to those of tranquilizers and antipsychotics. So Freeman then moved to Los Angeles and started to look for a new group of people on which to conduct lobotomy. He started to focus on kids with ADD, ADHD…etc. One of his first patients was a 12 years old boy, who according to his stepmom was disobedient. Freeman suggested a change of personality through lobotomy. From this, one can notice how his desperation to operate has altered his perception and now directs this procedure to any possible patient. He lobotomized 19 kids in total, all under the age of 18.

Walter Freeman died from cancer in 1972 at the age of 76. Lobotomy is still performed in extreme cases

Rosemary Kennedy became seriously disabled after her lobotomy. Things started going wrong when he was trying to take a picture while doing the operation and the ice pick slipped and killed the patient.

Boy Interrupted- Bipolar depression

Boy interrupted, a story about Evan Scott Perry, made me think about the severeness about bipolar depression across the globe. This also made me think about the dullness of the medicine they have to take in order to stay prevent their ups and downs. The mostly feel flat, dull, no joy nor sadness. This causes that the subject taking the medicine will miss the manic stage of the mental disorder which in a way is good because it makes them feel alive and better. But on the other hand, when the fall into the depression stage, they feel so bad they end up killing themselves. This is a sad thought, thinking that these people cannot live a normal life with or without the medicine.