How does a person's "Locus of Control" orientation effect depression?
There are some journal articles for purchase on this. The abstracts suggest that persons with an external locus of control experience more depression than persons with an internal locus. It would strike me that different treatment methods would work better/worse on internal versus external oriented subjects.
My own intuition is that internals eventually find what's causing them to be depressed, then work to change that. Externals, less so. My corollary intuition is that behavioral therapies can work well with internals while externals may respond better to pharmaceutical solutions.
And I pose the question because perhaps understanding one's own locus of control is a great place to start in thinking about their own depression.
User answers (1)
Sorted by: Oldest first
-
Rated 0 | Log in to rate
interesting part of the wikipedia post on this concept: http://www.mindsite.com/article/313/locus_of_control
"As an example, college students with strong internal locus of control believe that their grades are determined by their abilities and efforts. These students believe, "The more I study, the better grades I get." They change their study strategies as they discover their deficiencies. They raise their expectations if they succeed, and they worry when they think they have no control over their assignments.
In contrast, college students with strong external locus of control believe that their grades are the result of good or bad luck, and are hence less likely to work hard for high grades. This has obvious implications for differences between internals and externals in terms of their achievement motivation. Due to their locating control outside themselves, externals tend to feel they have less control over their fate. People with an external locus of control tend to be more stressed and prone to depression."
Major depressive disorder (depression)
Ask another question
Submit a question and get answers from users like you.
