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Background: Military service can lead to profound changes in identity, both in servicemen's perception of themselves and in their relationship to the world, but the significance of these changes for psychopathology is unclear. We investigated whether the extent and valence of identity change was related to the degree of military trauma exposure or to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide attempts. We further sought to describe the nature of such changes using qualitative analysis., Method: A total of 153 veterans in receipt of a war pension for PTSD or physical disability were identified. Interviews established retrospectively DSM-IV diagnoses of PTSD and reports of suicidal ideation or behaviour since enlistment were examined., Results: Trauma exposure alone was unrelated to any measure of identity change. By contrast, PTSD was associated with a relationship to the world that had changed in a negative direction. It was also associated with a changed perception of self, which could be either positive or negative. After controlling for trauma exposure and PTSD, suicidal behaviours were associated with more negative perceptions of the world. These perceptions of the world included disillusionment about human nature and a more specific rejection of civilian life., Conclusions: PTSD and suicidal behaviours in veterans seem not to be associated with significantly more negative views of the self but rather with more alienation from civilian life. This has serious consequences for engaging veterans in National Health Service (NHS) mental health services and for the provision of effective treatment., (© Cambridge University Press 2010)

Brief measures of depression and of dependency and self-criticism, personality factors believed to convey vulnerability to depression, were administered to 318 medical students. Depression was subsequently measured 2 years later (in the highly stressful 1st postgraduate year) and 10 years later when careers were established. When initial symptom levels and concurrent workload were controlled, dependency and, more particularly, self-criticism were significant predictors of depression for male doctors in the 1st postgraduate year. For female doctors, self-criticism was the only significant predictor. Ten years later, the predictive effects for male doctors were similar, but rather weaker, whereas none of the variables predicted depression in female doctors. Implications for preventive interventions are discussed.

It has been suggested that self-criticism derived from the family environment is a major vulnerability factor for depression. We tested in a sample of young women the hypothesis that self-criticism would be linked to parental reports of criticism, with perceived parental criticism playing a mediating role. Results indicated that self-criticism over appearance was independent of the other types of self-criticism measured. The data revealed additionally that self-criticism was related, independently of depression, to perceived parental criticism, but not to parents' own reports of criticism. Self-criticism over appearance was not related to parental variables.

A number of investigators have interpreted a tendency for depressed people to recall more negative than positive self-referent adjectives as evidence for a depressive self-schema made up of predominantly negative characterological information. We sought to confirm this account by eliciting the subjective self-perceptions of the depressed. Depressed patients and controls were required to rate whether or not a series of positive and negative adjectives applied to them during the previous week, at any time, and generally. The depressed distinguished clearly between these questions and, although describing themselves currently in largely negative terms, described their general state as equally composed of positive and negative elements.

We investigated in a sample of 75 medical students the hypothesis that higher levels of self-criticism, a major vulnerability factor for depression, are related to retrospective reports of less satisfactory parenting, even when the potentially confounding factors of mood state and social desirability response set are controlled. At each of 2 measurement times, there were significant cross-sectional correlations between parental ratings and both depression and self-criticism, but the associations with self-criticism were no longer significant when depression was controlled. However, even after controlling for the effects of mood state and social desirability, persons with high levels of self-criticism at both measurement points (high trait self-criticism subjects) reported significantly worse relationships with their mothers than did the remaining subjects. They were also more likely to report below average relationships with both parents jointly.

Predictions made according to the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory concerning the cognitive determinants of low self-esteem and depression were tested in two samples of undergraduates; real and hypothetical life events were used. As predicted, internal attributions for hypothetical success and failure were correlated with self-esteem, but there was an unexpected correlation with global attributions for negative outcomes. Two "preattributional" variables, consensus and consistency judgments, were also related to self-esteem and depression. In contrast to learned helplessness theory, a path analysis indicated that these variables were not attributionally mediated. Consensus judgment was as strong a predictor of depression as the number of recent distressing life events that subjects had experienced. Other evidence that links depression to perceived low consensus is described, and a possible etiological role for this variable is outlined.

It has been proposed that dependency and self-criticism are independent forms of depressive experience. This study was designed to investigate whether one or both experiences are associated with a depressive attributional style. Internal and global attributions for hypothetical negative outcomes were found to be associated with both dependency and self-criticism, but neither of these aspects of depression were related to attributions for positive outcomes.

It has been suggested that a central factor in depression is the experience of feeling different from others. This study set out to examine the relationship between pre-attributional consensus judgments, perceived trait discrepancy from others, and depression. As predicted, low consensus judgments concerning hypothetical events and negative self-evaluations relative to others were associated with depression. These results are discussed in terms of related work on attribution theory and social comparison processes.

Three models of the relation of negative cognitive style to depression are outlined: (1) a symptom model, where negative cognitions are a symptom of depression, (2) a vulnerability model, where a negative life-event in combination with cognitive vulnerability leads to depression and (3) an alternative aetiologies model, where depression can be precipitated either by stressful life-events or by a negative cognitive style. Differential predictions from the three models were examined in data from a general population survey of 193 mothers where a reliable case identification procedure and life-events interview were used together with measures of attributional style and self-esteem. Results were mostly consistent with the alternative aetiologies model, but also gave some support for the symptom model. In some cases, negative cognitive style may act to increase the risk of depression onset in the absence of life-event stress.