Exogenous depressions are related to the experience of stressful life events. Both Lewinsohn’s and Seligman’s theories assume that negative events play a role in the development of depression, and research supports this idea. However, the availability and quality of social support can provide a buffer against depression. Support appears to have two key aspects: intimacy and integration in the community. Marital relationships are particularly important for intimacy. Major depression occurs twice as often in those who live alone than those who live with someone else (Weissman et al., 1991). Those with poor marital relationships report more signs of depression than those with better ones (Menaghan & Lieberman, 1986). Wives who rated their husbands as more supportive were less likely to be depressed one year later than wives who rated their husbands as less supportive (Monroe et al., 1986). It is unclear, however, whether poor support causes depression or the other way around. A depressive spouse can contribute to the deterioration of marital relations (Beach, Sandeen, & O’Leary, 1990). These researchers suggest that marital counseling be a routine part of the treatment of depressives who are married.
People who have few friends and who are involved in few social activities are more prone to being depressed (Barnett & Gotlib, 1988). Lack of social integration reduces the opportunities for engaging in pleasant events, reduces the number of sources of help, and allows people who ruminate on their distress to become further withdrawn and depressed.
If you have experienced any degree of depression (it does not have to be a diagnosable clinical depression), discuss the circumstances that have surrounded depression in your own lives and the roles that family members, friends, and other help providers have played in reducing or exacerbating depressive symptoms. How have your relationships been affected? What level of social integration did you experience before, during, and after the depressive episode? If you have not experienced depression in any way, you can write about a close friend and/or family member.
