[Ailist] Psychology Today: "Is Depression Contagious?"

[Stephanie West Allen]

Excerpt:

Families often inherit a negative thinking style that carries the  
germ of depression. Typically it is a legacy passed from one  
generation to the next, a pattern of pessimism invoked to protect  
loved ones from disappointment or stress. But in fact, negative  
thinking patterns do just the opposite, eroding the mental health of  
all exposed.

When Dad consistently expresses his disappointment in Josh for  
bringing home a B minus in chemistry although all the other grades  
are As, he is exhibiting a kind of cognitive distortion that children  
learn to deploy on themselves—a mental filtering that screens out  
positive experience from consideration.

Or perhaps the father envisions catastrophe, seeing such grades as  
foreclosing the possibility of a top college, thus dooming his son's  
future. It is their repetition over time that gives these events  
power to shape a person's belief system.

Rest here:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20030723-000001.html

Best,

Stephanie

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Stephanie West Allen, JD
http://www.brainsonpurpose.com
http://www.idealawg.net
Denver, CO USA