Orality and depression: An empirical study.

Abstract

Despite much theoretical speculation and some indirect evidence, no study has empirically assessed the relationship of orality to depression. In the present investigation, two separate samples of male college students (M = 276; N 2 = 141) completed both the Rorschach test and the Depression Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ). More DEQ items correlated significantly with a Rorschach orality measure than would be expected by chance, but the magnitude of these correlations was small. Item analysis suggests that dependency is less a factor in depression than is a personality constellation marked by egocentrism, immaturity, fear of rejection, helplessness, and lack of integration. The results of this study are limited by its use of nonclinically disturbed male subjects. Lewis (1981) has noted the "the affect of depression . . . is so universal and so relatively wordless (or, at best, so monotonously banal both to sufferer and to an observer) that it does not readily invite 'scientific' consideration in its own right" (p. 168). Although a link between depression and passivity or helplessness has often been reported (see Depue & Monroe, 1978, for a review of this work), no study has ever assessed the relationship of depression to the psychoanalytic concept of orality. Our paper seeks to correct the lack of empirical inquiry into this aspect of depression. The role of orality and oral dependency in the etiology and dynamics of depression has long been a topic of conjecture among psychoanalytic theorists. Abraham (1927), for example, contended, "We often find in people who are depressed a conscious and openly expressed tendency to reject food" (p. 274). He continues, "The libido has regressed to the most primitive stage of its development known to us, to that state which we have come to know as oral" (p. 276).

Oral Pessimism and Depressive Symptoms

“…Along with a general measure of depression, the DEQ provides separate scores for three factors; Dependency (anaclitic depression), Self-Criticism (introjective depression), and Efficacy. Bornstein et al (1985) reported significant correlations between dependency and orality in Sample 2 ( r = .17, p < .05), selfcriticism and orality in both samples (Sample 1, r = .16, p < .005; Sample 2, r = .14, p < .05) and the total DEQ score and orality in both samples (Sample 1, r = .17, p < .005; Sample 2, r = . 25, p < .001).…”

“…(p. 216) Despite the acceptance of this conjecture within psychoanalytic theory, the relation of orality to depression has been the subject of little empirical investigation. Bornstein, Poynton, and Masling (1985) attempted to link the concepts of orality and depression; they administered the group Rorschach test and the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ; Blatt, D' Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976;1979) to two samples of male college students (n = 276, n = 141). The Rorschach had previously provided a reliable measure of orality through content analysis, with responses that allowed either oral percepts or dependent percepts to be scored (Masling, Rabie, & Blondheim, 1967).…”

Neediness and depression in women

“…From the initial sample of 101 students, 16 were excluded because they failed to give at least 20 responses to the Rorschach (see Bornstein et al, 1985) and four because of invalid DEQ or CES-D protocols. Of the remaining 81 (final sample at T1), 67 agreed to participate at T2, 12 failed to give a correct identification to allow a matching to T1 protocol, and three were eliminated due to invalid DEQ or CES-D protocols, resulting in a final sample, at T2, of 52 participants.…”

The Dependent Personality: II. Risk for Psychological Disorders

“…A recent study by Bornstein et al (1985) further supports the linkage of oral dependency and depression. In two samples of normal (i.e., not clini cally depressed) male college students, a significant, positive relationship was found between scores on a Rorschach measure of oral dependency and depression (DEQ) scores.…”

“…Among the more promising of these is Blatt's (1974) discussion of levels of object representations in the depressive syndromes. This model has been reviewed by Bornstein, Poynton, and Masling (1985). Blatt (1974) distinguished subtypes of depression based on the individ ual's level of object representations and degree of self-other differentiation.…”