Encouraging people to retain a sense of control over their lives is essential to for them to sustain a positive mindset.
Another study revealed that while an experimental group of infants easily learned to control the movements of a mobile with their head with pressure-sensitive pillows, the control group that was initially put in cribs with randomly turning mobiles took far longer to learn the skill, given that they had already 'learned' that they had no control over the actions of the revolutions of the toy, and that to try to have control was futile.

The dog study and subsequent research thus provides suggestions in terms of how to structure a care environment for the elderly, young, and sick. The studies should also stimulate self-consciousness on the part of the reader. Almost everyone has some sort of unproductive psychological defense mechanism, some of which may cause the perpetuation of unproductive ways….

Helplessness and Depression
The concept of learned helplessness is most strongly identified with psychologist Martin Seligman. Early animal experimentation by Seligman and colleagues defined the phenomenon of learned helplessness (Overmier & Seligman, 1967). The concept of learned helplessness describes the phenomenon that occurs when an animal or person observes or experiences traumatic events that they can exert little influence or control over. When the animal or person discovers that it can do nothing to escape or affect such an event it may acquire learned helplessness and not attempt to even try to remove itself from potentially harmful situations. In behavioral terms the organism learns that reinforcement and behavior are not contingent on one another (Seligman, 1976). The organism essentially becomes conditioned to form a belief that nothing it can do can affect the situation and it simply "gives up."

The original learned helplessness experiments had dogs learning through classical conditioning to….

Depression in Young and Older Women
Recent research reveals that about one percent of the general population suffers from manic-depression and five percent suffers from major depression during their lives (Simonds, 2001, p. 86). However, the incidence for depression in women is twice as high or more; as many as one in five American women has a history of depression during her lifetime.

Due to the various social and medical problems presented by increasing numbers of women who suffer from depression, this topic is of utmost importance in today's society.

This paper will examine the causes and effects of depression in both young and older women; examine existing medical research for both groups; identify major differences in depression for young and older women; and present a conclusive analysis of observations.

To determine what the causes of depression are in young and older women, and to differentiate between the two groups, I will examine a….

Perception of Helplessness
Helplessness is defined in the dictionary as a "powerlessness revealed by an inability to act." Alternative definitions are: "a feeling of being unable to manage" or "the state of needing help from something." Helplessness is part and parcel of human existence. Given the natural order of life's process, helplessness is a reaction to traumatic events in our own lives. These are mental, emotional and physical anguish. In addition, helplessness is also caused by sensitivity to the sufferings of others. After the events of September 11, 2001, most Americans felt helpless. This helplessness was from the recognition of the fragility of life. Helplessness was also the inability to seek immediate retribution to the grievous loss to those even far removed from most of us. In most cases however, helplessness comes from events that are associated with self and those very near. Illness is a prime example. This is particularly….

Child development in low-income families, however, is indicative of the way learned helplessness applies to many different aspects of living in a low-income family. There is abundant evidence that children living in poverty have increased developmental issues and reduced mental abilities later in life (Campbell & amey 1994). It is also true that living in low-income situations makes children more likely to live in single-parent homes, meaning tat there is markedly reduced time for interaction with the child during the critical early years of development (Campbell & amey 1994). These are the components from which learned helplessness can be deduced.
Poverty, in a capitalist society, by definition means that there is a prohibitive reduction in the amount of resources available, and it has long been known that children living in poverty are less equipped to deal with the world as they grow, making it more likely that they will stay….

Depression is a state of sadness and gloom where one feels dull and overwhelmed by the challenges of life. People tend to say that they are "depressed' any time they feel very unhappy. More likely than not, it could just be a mere response to fatigue, sad thoughts or events. This improper use of this term causes confusion between an ordinary mood swing and a medical condition. While it is normal for all human beings to experience dejection every now and then, a few people may experience unipolar depression. Ordinary dejection is rarely serious enough to significantly affect a person's day to day activities and does not persist for long. Mood downcasts can even have some benefits. Time spent contemplating can help an individual explore their inner self, values and way of life. They often come out of it feeling stronger, resolved and with a greater sense of clarity.
Unlike….

Depression in African-American Adolescents
Etiology of Depression

Mental illnesses like depression can be very difficult to diagnose or to recognize: There is no serum to test for when looking for depression. In some real if rather vague way, mental health is simply the absence of mental disorders. And in the reverse we define mental illness as the absence of mental health. The circularity of this definition is certainly confusing, but it reflects the real confusion over the range of what may be considered to be mentally "normal." This vagueness as to definition does not mean that the problem of mental illness and especially depression is not real: Indeed, the difficulty of identifying those with mental illness and so of providing prompt and appropriate treatment to them makes the need to do so more effectively all the more important (Grob, 1991, p. 13). The need to identify mental illness in - and so….

("St. John's ort," 2006, NCAM: National Council of Alternative Medicine)
Research, at present, is inconclusive. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted a 3-year study of 336 patients with major depression of moderate severity. The study randomly assigned patients to an 8-week trial. One-third of patients received a uniform dose of St. John's ort, another third a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) commonly prescribed for depression, and the final group received a placebo. The study participants who responded positively were followed for an additional 18 weeks. At the end of the first phase of the study, participants were measured on two scales, one for depression and one for overall functioning. There was no significant difference in rate of response for depression, but the scale for overall functioning was better for the antidepressant than for either St. John's ort or placebo. ("Depression," 2000, National Institute of Health)

Another study, described in the….

Coping ith Depression
Depression could be, well, a depressing subject matter to deal with, over the course of an entire 158-page text. However, by emphasizing positive coping strategies that can be adopted by sufferers of depression and the friends and loved ones of those going through a depressed period in their lives, Coping with Depression by Sharon Carter and Lawrence Clayton. (Hazeldon, 1995), manages to avoid this potential stylistic pitfall. In fact, if anything, it errs on the side of excessive cheerfulness.

Part of the reason the book has such an upbeat tone is because this work is clearly intended for younger, rather than older adults. It attempts to explain the many causes of depression, the different potential courses of treatment for depression (from therapy to chemical remedies), how to personally manage the disease on a daily basis and how to cope if a family member or friend is clinically depressed. Like….

Lobotomy is a popular medical procedure introduced in curing mentally ill individuals, which requires the removal of the prefrontal lobes of the cortex of the brain, the part of the brain wherein aggressive and violent behavior is triggered. However, in the movie, lobotomy is shown to have disastrous results: McMurphy's violent behavior is indeed abated, but as illustrated in the movie, the lobotomy had turned him into a 'vegetable' neither responding to his ward mates' call for attention nor displaying his usual rowdy, obnoxious, McMurphy self.
This instance in the movie is considered as patterned after the medical model of abnormal psychology, wherein "mental disorders are described as medical diseases with a biological origin" (450). ecause this is the prevalent thinking in medical science during the time the movie (and novel) was made, Nurse Ratched decided, in order to "treat" McMurphy, to let him undergo lobotomy. Subsistence to the medical….

ole of Spirituality in the Treatment of Depression
Over the last thirty years, one of the most interesting paradoxes in the study and treatment of depression has been that increased knowledge about the biomedical and genetic causes of the disease has been coupled with a renewed interest in the effect of religion and spirituality on human mental health and well-being. No matter how religion and spirituality are defined -- and many scholars and laypersons see no great distinctions between the two -- there are now hundreds of studies that demonstrate the beneficial effects of religion on both mental and physical health. Indeed, the more firmly held and intrinsic a person's religious convictions are, the more salutary the effect. eligious people are more optimistic, hopeful and trusting, and have more purpose and meaning in life than those with weak or no religious views. All of these qualities are of course lacking in….

Silence and Withdrawal - where the man "punishes" the woman for her "behavior" by becoming silent and withdrawn.

Lack of Emotional Connection - where the woman reaches out for support and empathy, and the man withholds it (Chang 73-81).

It is easy to see how these conditions of verbal and mental abuse could lead to feelings of low self-esteem and depression in women. Author Chang quotes a woman stuck in a mentally abusive relationship as saying, "He complained I never communicated with him, but whenever I tried to communicate with him, he would always tell me why I was wrong to think that way. And so it finally reached a point of why bother. You know, I got tired of listening to him criticize me'" (37-year-old nurse) (Chang 73). Studies indicate that abuse in a relationship, no matter what type of abuse, can lead to long-term depression, especially when the abusive relationship….

psychology and human behavior. Specifically it will discuss the effects of population density on individuals, including noise and territoriality. Population density has a dramatic affect on the population, and it can even lead to major health concerns. Studies show that residents of high-noise areas suffer a variety of ailments, from loss of attention span to hearing loss and stress. The denser the population, the more noise, stress, and lack of personal space all come together to make living conditions far less bearable than any other living situation.
Noise is one of the biggest problems facing the residents of high-density population centers. Noise can affect just about every aspect of life, and it can make sleeping, learning, conversing, and every aspect of life nearly unbearable. Noise is a part of life, but high noise levels are often most prevalent in inner cities and areas of high population density, meaning that more….

It is also interesting to note that the correlation between depression and childhood sexual abuse was found to be higher among females in many studies.
However, the issue of the relationship between depression and sexual abuse may not be as clear-cut as the above studies suggest. Recent research has begun to question this correlation and has produced findings that suggest that there are many other parameters and variables that should be considered. This is especially the case with regard to the view that childhood sexual abuse necessarily leads to depression in adulthood. As one report claims, "...there is accumulating evidence to contradict these claims" (Roosa,

Reinholtz, (Angelini, 1999). However the majority of studies indicate that there is a strong possibility that children who are sexually abused experience symptoms of depression that can extend into adulthood.

PTSD

3.1. What is PTSD?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disorder that has shown a marked degree of….

It thus becomes the concern of CT researchers and clinicians to address and investigate sex differences as an aspect in depression and to confront how they understand and treat women, who comprise 2/3 of clients. A feminist framework may be adopted for a more comprehensive and sensitive approach to the problem in order to benefit the large group of women clients. The new understanding must also be incorporated into the mainstream of cognitive writings and practice and treated as only a special interest topic (Hurst).
Cognitive behavior therapy, based on the five foregoing studies, has shown important gains greater than traditional counseling approach, but needs follow-up work. It has also demonstrated efficacy in producing lower relapse rate than the standard clinical treatment. The discourse approach to the negative self-perception of depressed patients has showed limitations as a technique. ut it can be useful in reducing symptoms among injection drug users.….