According to Sue, Sue, and Sue (1994), over the last three decades, the behavioral perspective of psychological disorders has shifted from models based solely on stimulus-response characterizations to a more cognitive focus. In other words, cognitive or mental variables have been increasingly introduced into behavioral models as causal agents producing psychopathology.
However, there do remain behavioral models that have essentially avoided reliance on cognitive or mental factors as explanatory constructs of mental disorder in favor of the more observable determinants of stimulus-response factors (Heiby, 1993). A central assumption in the report presented here is that the models avoiding cognitive or mental agents are more tied to the roots of behavioristic theory and that because of this deeper connection, these models need to be more thoroughly considered in any review of the behavioral perspective of mental health.
The purpose of this report is explicate these more behavioristic models as they apply to depression and to review empirical research related to therapeutic interventions derived from these models. To provide context to this review, the report also provides a description of the prevalence of depression as well as a brief characterization of the clinical symptoms associated with disorder.
Depression Prevalence and Clinical Symptoms
An understanding of behavioral models and treatment for depression is enhanced through review of the disorder's contextual background in terms of symptomology and incidence in the population. This section of the review provides this contextual background.
Sue, Sue and Sue (1994) report that depression can be characterized as a mood disorder associated with the presentation of clusters of symptoms in four domains: (1) the affective (emotional) domain; (2) the cognitive (thought) domain; (3) the behavioral domain; and (4) the physiological domain. Regarding the affective d...