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Inside the Blue Book
Understanding Depression
April
2001
by Jennifer L. Holley
PSYC
356b
Faculty: Kristi Lockhart, Lecturer in Psychology
When
Kristi Lockhart began teaching psychology, she was amazed at how
many of her students experienced depression.
"The rate seemed so much higher than when I was an undergraduate
at Pomona College," Lockhart says. This discovery led her to teach
a course in depression, which she has now done for 14 years -- first
at Cornell and for the past three years at Yale.
Some psychologists
say that the increase in depression has occurred because pharmaceutical companies
have finally found a way to create a demand for antidepressants. But most psychologists
believe the increased depression is real -- brought about by social changes
taking place in American culture, such as a general shift from focus on community
to focus on the individual. "The media now allow us to compare ourselves to
the whole world," Lockhart says, "and we don't have the same strong social networks
of family and religion to help us when we don't live up to our expectations."
The class explores
biological, psychological, and sociocultural approaches to depression. Students
are also introduced to issues of current interest to psychologists, such as
why women are twice as likely as men to have a depressive disorder. Some researchers
believe that men distract themselves to cut off initial sadness by drinking
or playing sports, while women ruminate. Now, though, the sex difference is
disappearing, perhaps because both men and women are beginning to feel more
comfortable seeking help. Another issue under study involves age and depression.
Young children, for example, have a low incidence of depression. "Children are
very optimistic about their futures," Lockhart says, "however unrealistic those
visions may be."
Most of the 30 students
in the seminar are psychology majors, and many enroll in the class after having
had their interest piqued by some experience with depression, either with family,
friends, or themselves. "This course itself," Lockhart says, "is not therapy."
What the course does is to instill a sense of hopefulness. While there may be
no cure for depression, the variety of treatments, with fewer side effects and
longer-lasting benefits than ever before, continues to grow.
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