Now showing 1 - 10 of 12
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The Say Yes to Life (SYTL) Program: A Positive Psychology Group Intervention for Depression

2015-06, Carr, Alan, Finnegan, Linda

Patients and referrers are increasingly seeking effective psychological treatments for depression as an alternative or adjunct to antidepressant medication. This paper describes a new group-based psychological intervention for major depressive disorder—the Say 'Yes' to Life (SYTL) program. This program integrates evidence-based interventions from cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and positive psychology, spans 20 2-hour sessions, and is offered to groups of up to 14 participants.

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Combatting depression

2009-07, Carr, Alan

Major depression is an episodic disorder characterized by major depressive episodes and intervening periods or normal mood. This is distinguished from dysthymia, which is a milder but more persistent mood disorder, characterized by chronic low mood for at least a year in young people, accompanied by fewer additional cognitive or behavioural symptoms than are required for a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. The diagnostic criteria for a major depressive episode are described in ICD-10 (World Health Organization, 1992) and DSM–IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).

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Schizophrenia and the relationship between insight depression and self-deception

2001, Moore, Orla, Cassidy, Eugene, Carr, Alan, O'Callaghan, Eadhbhart

Forty six individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were divided classified as having or high and low insight on the basis of their scores on the Scale for the Assessment of Unawareness of Mental Disorder. A comparison of the two groups showed that while they were demographically similar, the high insight group showed less defensive self-deception on the Balanced inventory of Desirable Responding and more depressive symptomatology on the Beck Depression Inventory and the Calgary Depression scale. The results were interpreted as supporting the view that self-deception is used as a defense by individuals with schizophrenia who have poor insight and this accounts for their lower levels of depressive symptomatology.

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Reductions in Specific First Memories in Depression: Influences of Distraction, Referential Set and Cue Word Valence on First Memory Retrieval

2005, Riggs, Emma, Carr, Alan, Bogue, John, Dooley, Barbara A.

This study examined the association between depression and autobiographical memory deficits. Sp e cifically, it evaluate d the impact of depression, complexity of a distraction task, self - or other - referential set and positive or negative cue - word valence on the retrieval of specific autobiographical memories . A sample of 24 depressed women and 24 matched controls completed the Autobiographical Memory T ask (AMT) before and after either a high - or low - complexity distraction task. Compared with the control group, the depressed group retrieved fewer specific first memories and had longer retrieval latencies for these. In the self - referential condition this pattern was more pronounced than in the other - referential condition. This suggests that depression is associated with a particular vulnerability in recalling specific self - referential memories. Distraction task complexity and cue - word valence did not affect AMT performance.

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Unawareness of illness and its relationship with depression and self-deception in schizophrenia

1999-06, Moore, Orla, Cassidy, Eugene, Carr, Alan, O'Callaghan, Eadhbhart

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Depression and power in marriage

2000-11, Byrne, Michael, Carr, Alan

To investigate the association between depression and power within marriage, fourteen couples in which the female partner was depressed were compared with fourteen non-depressed couples on a range of variables which assessed power bases, processes and outcomes, three domains identified in Cromwell and Olson's (1975) analysis of marital power. Compared with non-depressed couples, those containing a depressed female partner had distinctive profiles, and a subset of the characteristics of these couples was uniquely associated with depression and quite distinct from the couples' levels of marital satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of theories of power in relationships and are seen to highlight the importance of including marital therapy as part of a treatment package for married women with depression.

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Depression and power in marriage

2001, Byrne, Michael, Carr, Alan

To investigate the association between depression and power within marriage, 14 couples in which the female partner was depressed were compared with 14 non-depressed couples on a range of variables which assessed power bases, processes and outcomes, three domains identified in Cromwell & Olson's (1975) analysis of marital power.

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Family and marital profiles of couples in which one partner has depression or anxiety

2005-04, Hickey, Deirdre, Carr, Alan, Dooley, Barbara A., Guerin, Suzanne, et al.

Twenty-nine couples in which one partner was depressed, 21 couples in which one partner had an anxiety disorder, and 26 nondistressed control couples were compared on measures of (1) quality of life, stress, and social support; (2) family functioning; (3) marital functioning; and (4) relationship attributions. The depressed group had significant difficulties in all four domains. In contrast, the control group showed minimal difficulties. The profile of the anxious group occupied an intermediate position between those of the other two groups, with some difficulties in all four domains, although these were less severe and pervasive than those of the depressed group..

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Urban public attitudes to the treatment of psychological problems and depression in general practice

2000, McKeon, Patrick, Gavigan, P., Carr, Alan

A previous national study of public attitudes to depression indicated that only 17% spontaneously mentioned their general practitioner as someone who could help with depression, in contrast to 79% of respondents being willing to consult their G.P. in a similar U.K. survey. The present study undertook to examine the public perception of an urban sample to the treatment of depression in general practice and the factors associated with expressed unwillingness to consult. A random sample from the electoral register was drawn and 54 (89%) of 61 subjects selected were interviewed. While 85% of respondents were satisfied with their general practice care, only 24% to 52%, depending on the context and wording of the question, said that they would seek help from their general practitioner for depression. Factors associated with an expressed reluctance to consult were being male, dissatisfied with general practitioner care and believing that general practitioners were not qualified to treat depression.

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Mood congruent memory bias of individuals with depressed mood and anxiety

1999, Lange, Gregor, Carr, Alan

Fifteen individuals with clinically significant levels of both depressed mood and anxiety were compared with 20 demographically similar controls on implicit and explicit memory tests for recall of negative, physically threatening, socially threatening, positive and neutral word stimuli. Compared with the control group, the depressed and anxious group remembered more negative and socially threatening words and fewer positive words in both the implicit and explicit memory conditions. They also recalled more physically threatening words in the implicit memory test. These findings lend partial support to Williams et al.'s (1997) integrative multilevel theory of mood and memory.