Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T04:00:24.217Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Self-Esteem, Vulnerability and Psychiatric Disorder in the Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

J. G. Ingham*
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5AF, Scotland
N. B. Kreitman
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5AF, Scotland
P. McC. Miller
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5AF, Scotland
S. P. Sashidharan
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5AF, Scotland
P. G. Surtees
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5AF, Scotland
*
Correspondence

Abstract

One hypothesis concerning the nature of the link between negative self-appraisal and certain psychological disorders is that low self-esteem may be a consequence of both early and current experiences, and may predispose to breakdown. An alternative view is that the negative self-concept is only to be found in the presence of illness, which is the primary cause. Results are reported from a community survey, confirming the influence of certain biographical factors on self-esteem in the absence of illness, whereas other factors appear to operate only after the onset of illness. Anxiety as well as depression, has effects on self-esteem.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beck, A. T. (1967) Depression. New York, Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Bedford, A. & Foulds, G. (1978) Personality Deviance Scale (Manual). Windsor, Berks: NFER.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. (1984) Social support and depression. Gerald Caplan lecture. Unpublished.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Bifulco, A. (1985) In Social Support: Theory Research and Applications (ed. Sarason, J. G.). The Hague: Martinus Nijhof.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Caine, T. M., Foulds, G. A. & Hope, K. (1967) Manual of the Hostility-Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ). London: University of London Press.Google Scholar
Caine, T. M. (1970) Personality and Illness. In The Psychological Assessment of Mental and Physical Handicap (ed. Mittler, P.). London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Costello, C. G. (1982) Social factors associated with depression: a retrospective community study. Psychological Medicine, 12, 329339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coyne, J. C. (1976) Depressions and the response of others. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 186193.Google Scholar
Dean, C., Surtees, P. G. & Sashidharan, S. P. (1983) Comparison of research diagnostic systems in an Edinburgh community sample. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 247256.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A. (1976) The Hierarchical Nature of Personal Illness. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1972) The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goldthorpe, J. H. & Hope, K. (1974) The Social Grading of Occupations; a New Approach and Scale. (Oxford Studies in Social Mobility). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hamilton, E. W. & Abramson, L. Y. (1983) Cognitive patterns and major depressive disorder: A longitudinal study in a hospital setting. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 173184.Google Scholar
Henderson, S., Byrne, D. G. & Duncan-Jones, P. (1981) Neurosis and the Social Environment. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ingham, J. G. & Miller, P. McC. (1976) The concept of prevalence applied to psychiatric disorders and symptoms. Psychological Medicine, 6, 217225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewinsohn, P. M., Steinmetz, J. L., Larson, D. W. & Franklin, J. (1981) Depression-related cognitions: Antecedent or Consequence? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 90, 213219.Google Scholar
Lucas, C. J. (1959) Social and Familial Correlates of Schizophrenic Delusions (Summary). (Reprinted from) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 52, 10661067 (Section of Psychiatry, 46–47).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayo, P. R. (1967) Some psychological changes associated with improvement in depression. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6, 6368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, P. McC. & Ingham, J. G. (1979) Reflections on the Life-Events-to-Illness Link with Some Preliminary Findings. In Stress and Anxiety Vol. 6, ed Sarason, J. G. & Spielberger, C. D. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, M. (1965) The measurement of Self-Esteem. Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton N. Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for a Selected Group of Functional Disorders 3rd—Biometrics Research. New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google ScholarPubMed
Surtees, P. G., Dean, C., Ingham, J. G., Kreitman, N. B., Miller, P.McC. & Sashidharan, S. P. (1983) Psychiatric Disorder in Women from an Edinburgh Community: Associations with Demographic Factors. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 238246.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. & Bebbington, P. (1978) The social causation of depression: a critique of the work of Brown and his colleagues. Psychological Medicine, 4, 565575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warr, P. & Jackson, P. (1983) Self-esteem and unemployment among young workers. Le Travail Humain, 46, 355366.Google Scholar
Wells, L. E. & Marwell, G. (1976) Self-Esteem: Its conceptualization and measurement. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.