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Showing posts from August, 2019

The 3Ps of Pessimistic Explanatory Style in Depression

When faced with an adversity, people with depression default to a pessimistic explanatory style (Sweeney et al., 1986). This rigid style has three facets, also called the 3Ps (Reivich & Shatté, 2002; Seligman, 2006): 1. “Personal” thinking wherein a person finds a cause within themselves to explain an adverse situation. For instance, if your boss doesn’t respond to your “Hi,” you might assume they're unhappy with you. 2. “Permanent” thinking wherein a person facing a bad outcome believes that the situation is a never-ending ordeal rather than temporary. For example, you have a disagreement with your coworker and your knee-jerk reaction is, “She is always doing this to me.” 3. “Pervasive” thinking in which a person thinks that a particular problem will affect many areas of their life rather than having a circumscribed effect. For instance, you fail to meet a deadline at work and feel that you have never been an organized person your entire life. Pe...