ABSTRACT
It is useful to distinguish between two types of depression: sociotropic depression and autonomous depression. In sociotropic depression a person is depressed about issues such as loss of affiliation, loss of love, loss of being connected to people and loss of relationships, whereas in autonomous depression a person is depressed about losses of freedom, autonomy, competence and status. When a person makes themself sociotropically depressed, they tend to hold a number of general rigid/extreme attitudes. When a person feels sociotropically depressed, the rigid/extreme attitudes that underpin their depression impact on their behaviour. Depression-related rigid/extreme attitudes have a decided negative effect on a person’s subsequent thinking. This thinking becomes highly distorted in negative ways and ruminative. When a person is in a sociotropic depression, they will tend to create and dwell on images or metaphors that illustrate how they feel. When a person makes themself autonomously depressed, they tend to hold a number of general rigid/extreme attitudes.
