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Attributional style of depressed chronic low back patients
Author(s) -
Love Anthony W.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(198805)44:3<317::aid-jclp2270440303>3.0.co;2-y
Subject(s) - learned helplessness , psychology , style (visual arts) , attribution , depression (economics) , clinical psychology , chronic pain , chronic depression , chronic fatigue , developmental psychology , psychiatry , chronic fatigue syndrome , cognition , social psychology , macroeconomics , archaeology , economics , history
This study used the Attributional Style Questionnaire to study the attributional styles of depressed and nondepressed chronic low back pain patients ( N = 91) in order to test the Revised Learned Helplessness model's prediction of differences between the two. The results partly supported the hypothesis; an internal, stable, global style for negative events distinguished the depressed group from the nondepressed, but there were no differences in attributional style for positive events. The findings are consistent with recent reviews of the literature that have reported general support for the negative outcome style, but consistent failure to confirm the predictions associated with positive outcome style. In addition, the attributional style was not common to all subjects in the depressed group, which suggested that other factors may be involved in the development of different subtypes of depression. Implications for studying attributional aspects of depression and chronic low back pain are discussed.