By IANS,
Toronto : A new Canadian study shows that students who consider themselves inferior to others are at greater risk of recurring depression.
Myriam Mongrain of York University, who co-authored the study ‘Entrapment and Perceived Status in Graduate Students Experiencing a Recurrence of Major
Depression’, says: “Students with high levels of involuntary subordination were more likely to experience recurring episodes of major depression – even after controlling for lifetime history of major depression and current depressive status.”
Involuntary subordination, according to her, characterised by low perceived social status, unfavourable social comparisons and feeling unable to escape from negative circumstances.
As part of their study, Mongrain and co-author Edward D. Sturman of the State University of New York at Plattsburg put 146 graduate students through a diagnostic interview to ascertain their history of major depression, and sense of entrapment and social comparison.
After 16 months, when they again assessed the participants for a recurrence of major depression, they found that those who experienced it (a recurrence of depression) had much higher levels of involuntary subordination.
Mongrain said their study supported “an evolutionary theory of depression, in which people feel there is no escape from negative circumstances or feelings, and adapt by withdrawing in order to avoid further emotional harm”.
She explained that as per evolutionary models depression is the result of defeat in social competition – in the animal kingdom, losers in status contests become de-motivated and withdraw, and in humans, the failure to accept defeat leads to a prolonged state of involuntary subordination, which in turn leads to depression.
According to the researchers, the results from their study on graduate students can be extrapolated to the general population.
“It was crucial to show that involuntary subordination was itself causing depression, and not vice versa,” said Mongrain.
The study has appeared in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science.