Depression Explained By Behaviorism

Depression is a disease that affects the mind, but which in most cases arises from a set of variables and external elements that are also supported by a series of behavior patterns that are established in our life. Although the cognitive part is still important, in today’s article we will focus on the main behavioral therapies and the logic of their functioning.

It is not entirely illogical for a person suffering from depression to seek a more “philosophical and profound” explanation for the whirlwind of emotions around which his entire existence revolves. Explanations of an intrapsychic and complex nature have the ability to attract these people to themselves, a bit like that sort of inexplicable appeal that lies behind sadness.

Interpretations that give depression an emotional and literary touch make the suffering much more tempting and poetic, although they can in no way remedy or soothe the pain itself. The concrete and simpler explanations of depression, on the other hand, appear colder and more detached.

For these reasons,  psychologists have an academic and professional obligation to make these treatments closely linked to behavior known, even if the conferences in this regard tend to be few and the public involved is decidedly not numerous.

Since rigor in psychology is the therapeutic hope of millions of people, it is worth discovering how depression is explained by behaviorism and being able to choose a psychologist who specializes in this current to determine a clear and concrete solution to our problems.

Sadness comes from what we live

Trying to explain behaviorism in an article will probably not be effective for someone who reads these lines and is afflicted with depression. However, we will try to construct a general idea, a sort of “behaviorism for beginners”. But just preambles, let’s see together the interpretation that behaviorism gives to depression.

What is the most obvious symptom of depression? This question is worth asking. There is no doubt that sadness is the most direct consequence of depression, but it would be better to delve into this concept a bit. Broadly speaking, behaviorism states that sadness is a product of how one lives.

This current of thought does not reject the idea that different individuals have different methods of dealing with their miseries, both from a cognitive and biological point of view, but believes that these differences are also closely linked to environmental factors. If this were not the case, all this would not be the responsibility of psychology, but of other branches of medicine capable of exploring its organic causes.

Even if you can’t trace the origin of what you experienced, there is always a link

Sometimes it is difficult to believe that the most serious psychological disorders can arise from an indefinite network of related stimuli and responses, yet it is so. The very interpretations that are given to experienced stimuli are inevitably linked to how in the past that individual reacted in similar circumstances.

A network of tragically interpreted catastrophic events, therefore, can forever influence a person’s life. The purpose of behaviorism is to identify the network of catastrophic associations to determine alternative behaviors that lead to mitigating suffering, otherwise destined to feed itself.

Let’s see an example. Let’s imagine that a child wishes to eat a chocolate cake that is in front of his eyes, is about to take it, but is promptly stopped by the intervention of an adult. Faced with the impossibility of satisfying his desire, the child will be able to react by sulking. If the adult responds to his complaints by giving him what he wants, the negative behavior will be reinforced.

This is what is known as the trap of negative reinforcement: perhaps it will serve to prevent the child from pouting in the short term, but the same behavior will be reinforced by increasing the chances of it coming back in the future. This way of proceeding will result in more problematic future attitudes, such as the inability to bear frustration or the tendency to seek immediate pleasure as a consequence of the inability to control impulses.

Classical theories of behaviorism to explain depression

With the above in mind, let us now discover the most relevant theories within behaviorism, most of which do not take into consideration purely cognitive factors, believing they should not be the priority in psychology.

Skinner already stated that mood disorders find their cause in a reduced frequency of behavior. Let’s see together the three most representative behavioral theories in support of this idea:

Fester’s behavioral theory

This model finds the explanation for mood disorders in the absence of positive reinforcement behaviors that can help control the fear that the person feels.  However, the cause would not lie only in the loss of elements of positive reinforcement, but in the occurrence of a series of avoidative behaviors that contribute to raising the level of inhibition in the behavior of the subject.

Costello’s behavioral theory

According to Costello, the problem does not lie in the absence of positive reinforcements in the subject’s environment, but in the fact that they are now ineffective  due to endogenous changes or because the behavioral chain that administered them has lost its effectiveness.

Imagine a child who has lost the sensitivity of the taste buds due to an illness or a child who refuses food because it is not given to him by his parent. The loss of the effectiveness of reinforcements will cause a disinterest in a particular thing and its circumstances.

Lewinsohn’s behavioral theory

This model suggests that events in an individual’s life are due to a lack of contingent positive reinforcements to his behavior. There are many reasons that would explain why positive reinforcement is not correctly associated with appropriate behaviors.

The cause could be determined, for example, by an environment that does not offer sufficient reinforcement, the individual’s lack of social skills to acquire the necessary reinforcements, as well as an anxiety towards society that prevents him from exploiting them. Lewinsohn’s model further explains that depression is accentuated by both social attention and lack of it.

New behavioral perspectives on depression: the introduction of the cognitive variable

We have roughly seen the points of view of behaviorism regarding depression, although currently the same have been enriched with numerous extensions that also analyze more cognitive factors. Among them stand out Rehm’s Theory of Self-Control and Lewinsohn’s Theory of Self-Focusing.

In Rehm’s Theory of Self-Control, elements of Beck’s, Lewinsohn’s and Seligman’s theories are combined in what is called a diathesis-stress paradigm in the individual and which considers depression a loss of the ability to associate external reinforcers and control. of their own behaviors.

In Lewinsohn’s Theory of Self-Focusing, however, environmental factors are highlighted as the cause of depression, while underlining that the increase in self-awareness in the individual regarding his own incapacity is fundamental. This would determine the growth of the malaise for its existence.

Ultimately, behavioral and cognitive-behavioral models offer us a key to interpreting mood disorders so comprehensive that the challenge for today’s psychologists is to make them known with the same vehemence with which various other theories have been disseminated in the past. lacking any scientific evidence.