Optimism, resilience and depression

reference

Kleiman Em, Chiara Am, Liu RT, Jäger-Hyman SG, Choi Jy, Alloy Lb. Optimism and well -being: a prospective multimetic and multidimensional examination of optimism as a resilience factor after the occurrence of stressful life events. cogn emot . 2017; 31 (2): 269-283.

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prospective multimetical and multi -dimensional examination using the main component analysis (PCA) with subsequent evaluation of the instrument of confirmation factor analysis (CFA).

participant

The volunteers of the study (n = 464) were college students in the basic course that were enrolled in introductory courses in psychology. 76 percent were female, with an average age of 19.5 years. The composition of the sample was as follows: 43 % Caucasians, 34 % African Americans, 12 % Asians, 3 % Hispano -American and 7 % others. A subgroup (n = 96) of the original sample was invited to the prospective phase of the study. In this phase, the participants were 82 % female and sat down as follows: 39 % Caucasians, 36 % African Americans, 10 % Asians, 4 % Hispano -Americans and 10 % others.

study parameters evaluated

The following study parameters were used:

1. BECK Hopelessness Scale (BHS)-20-point self-reported level for hopelessness, a main symptom of depressive emotions; The total number of points ranges from 0 to 20, whereby the lower scores show less pessimism.
2. revised life Orientation Test (Lot-R)-10-point questionnaire to identify differences in general optimism vs. pessimism of a participant.
3. Cognitive Style Questionnaire (CSQ) - suggests hypothetical scenarios to evaluate the self -feeling of the participant after a positive or negative life event.
4. event questionnaire (EQ) - represents hypothetical events that each participant can estimate as likely in real life. Higher values ​​for positive events and lower values ​​for negative events are used to reflect prejudices that every person uses to look at their own lives.

primary result measurements

The primary result measurements include the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a 21-point self-report on the depression symptoms of the past 2 weeks, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), a 21-point self-report measure for anxiety symptoms. In addition, the Expanded Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Change Interview (Exp-Sads-C) was used to assess a psychopathological situation for suitable DSM IV diagnoses.

important knowledge

The study found that optimism is a multifaceted construct, and identified 4 dimensions of optimism: positive expectations (PES), conclusion style (IS), feeling of invulnerability (Si) and self -overestimation (o). It was found that different dimensions of optimism have different effects on well -being. PE reduced the effects of stressful events on depressive symptoms and was associated with less depressive episodes. SI moderated the effects of stress on anxiety symptoms.

practice implications

Optimism is generally a atrocity for depression. It is unlikely that a person who is generally optimistic is depressed.

Against this background, it is important to take into account the aspects of optimism that this study tries to explain to us. Overall, this study shows us that optimism not only means “thinking positively”, but, as the authors describe it, optimism is really “a multifaceted construct” and each facet can have different effects on the mood.
In their introduction, the authors give reasons why they consider this study to be useful. They explain that a restriction of previous research on optimism is that most studies have a single measure of optimism, although it is a multi -dimensional concept. The authors also criticize the earlier work that it is too much on self -disclosure, since self -disclosures are subject to their own subjective or idiosyncratic sensitivities of every volunteer. Study interviews are used in this study. These are scales that try to compensate for this effect among the participants and avoid bias the participants. After all, the authors criticize earlier work, which mainly focused on the relationship between optimism with depression and not to others (e.g. fear).

Overall, this study shows us that optimism not only means “thinking positively”, but, as the authors describe it, optimism is really “a multifaceted construct” and can have every facet different effects on the mood.

Understandably, the relationship between optimism and psychological and physical health results found in this study seems to be complex, with remarkable differences between the four "optimism dimensions", which the authors call:

positive expectations (pes)

pes explain the view that your own future will be positive and that your own general situation or character is in a better position overall than that of another person in the same situation. In this study, the authors showed that people with PES had a lower risk of the occurrence of severe depression and a lower level of depressive symptoms, even after checking the initial depressive episodes or symptoms. LE was the dimension that was most constantly associated with lower depression symptoms and a lower risk of serious depressive disorders, which confirmed earlier research results in both adults and children. This study also found that PES can cushion the negative effects of high life stress on depressive symptoms.

Inference style (IS)

A person with an optimistic IS is inclined to see positive events as a standard situation and negative events as temporary anomalies. In other words, he expects good things to happen normally. In contrast, pessimistic people see negative events as the standard. In this study, the authors were surprised that the IS dimension did not predict depression (which in their opinion could be due to the too weak structure of this special study).

feeling of invulnerability (si)

A person with SI expects negative results more often than with themselves. In this study, the presence of SI was associated with a reduced risk of anxiety symptoms, even with high stress of life. Interestingly and surprisingly for the authors, this dimension also seemed to give a greater risk of complaints about physical health symptoms (no less risk).

self -overestimation (o)

self -overestimation is the tendency to consider your own skills and characteristics to be better than they really are, and often better than that of other people. Self -overestimation showed a correlation with fear and depression, but these did not predict any changes in physical illnesses.

Does and relieves optimism really both mental and physical diseases? And how can we as a health practitioner best use the optimism of a patient to support his or her health goals?

In short, when it comes to depression, a person who is protected by nature (not vulnerable) and sees the world as a general place, tends to be happier, has fewer depression and is better able to survive times with high stress. It is obvious that these are attributes who can use an improvement for patients with susceptibility to depression. This study showed an association between these constructs of optimism with a reduced risk for the occurrence of severe depression and a lower extent of depressive symptoms.

It must also be noted that those who consider themselves more invincible endure physical complaints, possibly because they really don't believe that something bad will happen to them. That makes sense; If you are the type of person who does not believe that this can happen to you, tend to not be preventive (you do not check your blood pressure, you continue to smoke). These patients may need more information about how susceptible everyone is for diseases and how good health care can prevent unwanted consequences. Of course, we have to pay attention to which patients we expose this rhetoric, since such an emphasis on possible undesirable consequences can increase the fear of an already anxious patient. While optimism has clear advantages, appropriate "pessimism" can also offer protection by motivating patients to seek health -promoting behavior and care.

It is also of interest that the authors suggest that positivity creates positivity. In this way of thinking, optimism not only buys the effects of stress on life on health, but could also increase the likelihood of future positive events and at the same time reduce the occurrence of negative events, similar to a self -fulfilling prophecy.

In the author's words, this fascinating study finds "partially support for prospective relationships between different conceptualizations and consequences for intellectual and physical health". Although this is not a groundbreaking statement, it confirms what we already seemed to know.

restrictions

The final number of participants included in the prospective phase was 96, while the original sample size 464 was. Due to the low sample size, the authors described these prospective results as "explorative" and in need of replication, which is a fair statement.

The most disappointing is that this small prospective sample made no better examination of the relationship between optimism dimensions and clinically significant fear possible. The authors found that previous studies only focused on depression; Unfortunately, this study discussed factors that influenced depression. In view of the fact that 18 % of the population had to struggle with any form of fear, it would have been helpful to further illustrate the relationship between optimism and fear. In addition, the majority of the participants were female, which could indicate that the results may not apply so easily to men.