Major depression is one of the most frequent mental health problems in the entire globe. It is a disorder that generates great anguish and suffering to the sufferer, and which is usually highly disabling.

Throughout history, there have been many authors who have tried to explain the causes or factors that lead to the suffering of depression, in order to understand it and find ways to combat it. There are in this sense a large number of theories and models that seek to analyze and explain this disorder.

One of them is the theory of depression due to hopelessness, which we will explore throughout this article.

Depression: general description and symptomatology

Major depression is called one of the most prevalent mental disorders worldwide, which is characterized by the presence of a continuous state (much of the day and almost every day of a period of at least two weeks) of a state of mind sad and loss of ability to feel pleasure (something known as anhedonia).

Along with these appear other symptoms such as sleep problems and/or feeding, weight changes, isolation, loss of desire to do things, fatigue, decreased libido, passivity, concentration problems, suicidal ideation and/or hopelessness.

All this leads to great difficulties in the functionality of the person who suffers , which in time can also be isolated socially and lose many social interactions with other people at the same time that their work and/or academic performance is reduced, something that can generate conflicts and worsen the quality of life of the patient.

Passivity and despair are next to anhedonia and the possible cognitive distortions of depressive patterns are two symptoms that make it more difficult to overcome the disorder by decreasing the belief of one's ability to improve. And despair has been considered fundamental in major depression by some authors, including the creators of the theory of depression by hopelessness.

Theory of depression due to hopelessness

The theory of depression due to hopelessness is one of the different explanatory models aimed at trying to provide an explanation to the motive or the factors that affect the onset of depression.

This model was proposed by Abramson, Metalsky, and Alloy, who start from a cognitive conception of depression similar but different from that of Aaron Beck. In the theory of depression due to hopelessness, the existence of a basic vulnerability is established, which would make it easier for a person to fall into a depression when facing a stressful situation.

This vulnerability is mainly cognitive in origin, and in particular arises from inferential cognitive styles in which an internal, global and stable attribution prevails for negative situations, as well as in the anticipation of situations and adverse events as a consequence of the acts themselves.

This style makes the idea of despair appear, to take responsibility for any negative that could happen to the person and the absence of belief in one's ability to affect the results of events.

Generally, the presence of these styles facilitates the appearance of a type of depression called desperation, which is linked to specific symptoms that would include sadness, fatigue, low levels of self-esteem and possibly suicidal thoughts and ideas.

There arises a mentality close to learned helplessness, in which it does not matter what is done that the subject will believe that he has no impact on the world and is unable to cope successfully with situations.

This theory has been reviewed and criticized over time, but it has been observed especially relevant to explain the symptomatology of depression in adolescents, especially in the case of young girls.

Differences with Beck's theory

Although the theory of Abramson and collaborators and that of Beck resemble in multiple aspects, the truth is that they have relevant differences among them.

One of them is precisely the fact that while for Beck the causes of depression are found in the activation of dysfunctional mental schemes derived from negative biases (among which the fact of ignoring positive information and focusing on negative ones), in The theory of depression due to hopelessness we would not be faced with some strange inferences, but they are logical from the vital learning that has been generated.

The theory of depression due to hopelessness values that, in fact, people with depression may have a perception that is less biased than the non-clinical population because they are not influenced by the illusion of control.

Likewise, while for Beck the cognitive schemes of the cognitive triad are the central elements of depression, for the theory of depression by hopelessness the most central and important in the explanation of depression is the feeling of hopelessness.

Other influential factors

Subsequent research has analyzed how various factors can also lead to certain vulnerability. An example of this is the existence of the experience of mistreatment, in addition to the comorbid existence of personality disorders (especially those that suffer personality disorders of their clusters C and B).

According to a famous help service called I need someone to do my assignment, this model also establishes the existence of influential biological factors, such as the presence of cerebral asymmetry or the greater activity of the relative right anterior zone.

Although these factors are not necessary for there to be depression, if there were, they would be facilitators or risk factors to get to suffer it.