Twelve out-patients with a 'definite' or 'probable' diagnosis of major depressive disorder were treated by the author using personal construct psychotherapy (Kelly, 1955). Changes in their construct systems were monitored at intervals during the course of therapy using traditional role construct repertory grids and 'multiple perception of the self' grids. The level of depression was measured on each occasion of testing using psychiatric and self-rating depression scales. The most important findings were that high levels of depression were associated with low levels of 'conflict' and a cluster of variables to do with the construing of self, namely negative self-construing, low self-esteem and perceived self-isolation. As the depression lifted during the course of psychotherapy, there was a significant increase in the amount of 'conflict' and in the level of self-esteem, and a significant decrease in the level of self-isolation. The fact that over time the 'multiple perception of self' grids changed significantly more than the grids concerned with the construing of the self and others is interpreted as further evidence of the crucial role that the self-concept plays in depression.

Stephen Daldry's deeply moving film (written by David Hare) of Michael Cunningham's book, The Hours, 1 is a touching portrayal of the lives of three troubled women living at different times during the twentieth century, and all connected to Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway. We see each woman on a particular day, first the author Virginia Woolf herself, in the 1920s, then Laura Brown, a housewife in mid-century, and the third Clarissa Vaughan, a present-day New Yorker. Over this long period of time there is naturally a striking change in the lifestyle of the women depicted. This change is echoed, but to a lesser extent, in the psychological development of the characters.The film is a clear illustration of the profound difficulties experienced by certain types of individual, whom we may term 'as-if' 2 personalities, and the effect these personalities have on the lives of those closest to them. 'As-if' personalities present peculiar difficulties in analysis, which are better explored in relation to the book than to the film as the latter is less subtle and departs in some important respects from the text.

No abstract

No abstract