ABSTRACT
Imagine the following scenario. Two women are fired from their jobs at the same firm. One woman becomes upset and mildly discouraged for a couple of days and then picks herself up and begins searching the want ads for a new job. In contrast, the other woman develops a serious episode of depression lasting for months and never tries to find a newjob. Why are some people vulnerable to depression whereas others never seem to become depressed? According to the cognitive theories of depression, the way people typically interpret or explain events in their lives—their cognitive styles—importantly affects their vulnerability to depression. Thus, as a complement to work emphasizing biological or genetic risk for depression, the hopelessness theory (Abramson et al., 2002; Abramson, Metalsky, … Alloy, 1989) and Beck's theory (Beck, 1967, 1987; Clark, Beck, … Alford, 1999) highlight cognitive risk for depression.
