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Vulnerability to Depression: Personal, Situational, and Family Aspects

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Contemporary Psychological Approaches to Depression

Abstract

There have been breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment of depression in the past decade, but progress in our knowledge of the origins of depression is slower. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that we know a great deal more now than we did, but the questions continue to grow more complicated. While such complexity may be frustrating, and sometimes even daunting, there is also a great deal of excitement among clinical researchers about the developments that have occurred. This chapter attempts to convey a sense of this complexity, of change and discovery, in selected psychological aspects of depression. Against a growing mass of research on biological aspects of mood disorders, studies of the psychosocial aspects of affective disorders have a great deal to contribute, not just in content but also in methods and conceptualization. In the sections to follow, the theme is vulnerability to depression — how the issue has been framed in my research program over time, how personal, situational, and family aspects of vulnerability to depression have been studied and what such studies have revealed, as well as what gaps remain.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    Constance Hammen

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  1. Constance Hammen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA

    Rick E. Ingram

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© 1990 Plenum Press, New York

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Hammen, C. (1990). Vulnerability to Depression: Personal, Situational, and Family Aspects. In: Ingram, R.E. (eds) Contemporary Psychological Approaches to Depression. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0649-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0649-8_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7909-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0649-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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