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Depressive symptomatology: Deviation from a personal norm
Author(s) -
Zielinski Joseph J.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(197804)6:2<163::aid-jcop2290060210>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - psychology , dieting , clinical psychology , depressive symptoms , checklist , rating scale , coping (psychology) , norm (philosophy) , psychiatry , nap , depression (economics) , weight loss , medicine , developmental psychology , obesity , cognition , social psychology , political science , law , economics , cognitive psychology , macroeconomics
Seventy outpatients at a community mental health center completed the Self‐Rating Depression scale, additional questions about their symptoms, and the Restraint Scale which measures attitudes about eating and dieting. The data indicated that some patients gained (not lost) weight during depression and this appears related to their being restrained eaters. The results also suggested that some patients sleep or nap more (not less) during depression while some use drinking as a coping mechanism for depression. Arguments were presented for the bidirectional nature of depressive symptomatology to include deviations from a personal norm. It was suggested that a checklist of symptom categories including symptom direction, magnitude, and desirability would be a better instrument for assessing clinical depression.