A personal construct study of depression

Abstract

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.

Photography as a Measure of Constricted Construing: The Experience of Depression Through a Camera

“…Limitations of this study have been previously discussed in Section 2.3a. Sheehan (1985) replicated her study with a group of twelve out-patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder before and after personal construct psychotherapy.…”

“…Principal component analysis reflects the major groups of interrelated constructs in the repertory grid as rated by the participant (Fransella et al, 2004). In accordance with previous studies, the size of the variance accounted for by the first principal component was taken as a measure of cognitive complexity or degree of differentiation of the construct system (Sheehan, 1981;Sheehan, 1985;Ashworth et al, 1982;Space & Cromwell, 1980).…”

“…Cognitive complexity is said to represent the degree of differentiation in a person's construct system, and as clarified by Neimeyer (1985c) easily imagine a scenario where the same construct is applied to numerous different elements. As a result, cognitive complexity does not appear a valid measure of constriction, despite being conceptualized in this w a y (Space & Cromwell, 1980;Sheehan, 1981;Ashworth et al, 1982;Sheehan, 1985). Kelly (1955) suggested that the depressed individual employs a construct system which aims to minimize inconsistencies and incompatibilities.…”

“…The researchers proposed that a lower level of conflict indicated constricted construing as the individual employed a construct system that minimized inconsistencies (Sheehan, 1981;Sheehan, 1985).…”

“…In this study, the repertory grids consisted of 12 elements which were taken from other studies using the repertory grid as a measure of constriction (Ashworth, Blackburn & McPherson, 1982;Space et al, 1980;Sheehan, 1985;Winter et al, 2000). The element role titles were: Element role titles were presented on cards, and participants were asked to write down the name, or the initials of a person, who fitted these categories on each card.…”