|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Monday, September 25, 2000
|
|
|
|
|
Ian Gotlib, professor of psychology and director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Laboratory at Stanford University, delivered the 12th annual William A. Owens Lecture Sept. 14. He discussed his recent work analyzing clinical depression. Some highlights:
“Depression is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder. . . . The rate of incidence of depression among adolescents is increasing, and it is occurring at an earlier age. We have an alarming epidemic of depression among adolescents.”
On the results of a study of the correlation between the onset of puberty and depression in adolescent girls, which found such a correlation in Caucasian girls but not in African-American girls: “We don’t have a hormonal effect. . . . The meaning of the bodily changes going on around puberty is different for African-American girls than for Caucasian girls. The story is more complex.”
On his consequent move away from such biological factors in depression: “The problem was we were not able to get any of the variables to predict who would and who wouldn’t become depressed. . . . So we began to look at cognitive factors in depression.”
On the attempt to explain inconsistent results in clinical studies of depression by positing a cognitive bias toward depression: “Maybe--at a simple level--there are two kinds of depressed people. . . . High-bias depressives are attending to negative things in their environment. . . . High-bias depressives stay depressed longer.” |
|
|
|
--Beth Roberts
|
|
|
|
UGA Today ] News Bureau ] Master Calendar ] Columns ] Georgia Magazine ]
UGA Home ] Admissions ] Directories ] Sports ] Alumni ] Weather ]
Search this site ] Search UGA sites ]
Developed by University Communications News Bureau at the University of Georgia.
Beth Roberts: Columns editor, Juliett Dinkins: Columns managing editor,
Janet Beckley: Columns art director.
This site works best with the latest version of
Netscape Navigator 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0.
|
|
