COGNITIVE PERSONALITY SUBTYPES OF DEPRESSION - THEORIES IN SEARCH OF DISORDERS/

As a complement to clinical and quantitative approaches to subdividing the depressive disorders, some recent researchers have taken a theory -based approach and hypothesized the existence of three cognitive/pers onality subtypes: Hopelessness Depression (HD), Dependent/Sociotropic Depression (D/S Dep), and Self-Critical/Autonomous Depression (S-C/A D ep). We describe and compare these hypothesized subtypes. In so doing, we present new findings from our ongoing Cognitive Vulnerability to D epression (CVD) project. Conceptual analysis and preliminary empirical results from our CVD project suggest that HD overlaps, in part, with D/S Dep and S-C/A Dep. However the relationship does not appear to be as simple as vulnerability to HD in the interpersonal domain mapping d irectly on to D/S Dep nor vulnerability to HD in the achievement domai n mapping directly on to S-C/A Dep. We identify and discuss three crit ical issues that need to be addressed to conduct a more powerful searc h for HD, D/S Dep, and S-C/A Dep: (1) the problem of specifying congru ency between vulnerability and stress; (2) surprising vulnerability-st ress interactions; and (3) going beyond common language definitions of symptoms. Finally, we conclude by pointing out that research on the c ognitive/personality subtypes has a cumulative character and hasn't su ccumbed to the ''General MacArthur Syndrome.''