Chronic Depression

Pettit (clinical psychology, U. of Houston) and Joiner (psychology, Florida State U.) argue that clinical depression appears to include self-sustaining processes that are, at least in part, interpersonal and that therefore attempts to understand these processes from an interpersonal standpoint can be useful in applied settings. Drawing from the empirical literature on interpersonal processes in depression, they examine the operation of such processes as stress generation, negative feedback-seeking, excessive reassurance-seeking, interpersonal conflict avoidance, self-handicapping, blame maintenance, and stable vulnerabilities. They then examine the application of the clinical implications of this material in clinical assessment, therapeutics, and prevention. Although the authors hope that the material will be of use to actual clinical practitioners, they have geared the style of the writing to be as accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Annotation c2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)