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Carr, Alan
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Carr, Alan
Official Name
Carr, Alan
Research Output
Now showing 1 - 10 of 12
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Publication
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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Publication
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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Publication
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.