Depression and Personal Integration – the Post-Eriksonian Approach Cover Image

Depresja a integracja osobowa. Ujęcie poeriksonowskie
Depression and Personal Integration – the Post-Eriksonian Approach

Author(s): Michał Bebrysz, Wanda Zagórska
Subject(s): Individual Psychology, Psychology of Self
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: depression; Erikson; psychosocial resources; personal integration; post-Eriksonian conception

Summary/Abstract: The present article deals with the problem of accumulation of psychosocial resources which adults who currently undergo the depression episodes have at their disposal. Such resources as trust, autonomy, initiative, sense of industry, sense of identity, intimacy, generativity and ontic integrity are all considered as manifestations of personal integrity. The theoretical purpose of this article is to identify the resources which become weakened during an ongoing depression episode. Some hypotheses referring to intergroup differences have been formulated as far as the intensification of psychosocial resources is concerned. The research included 60 people, aged between 25 and 66, and within this group 30 subjects were undergoing the depression episode (F32.1, F32.2, F33.1, F33.2). In the research, the Questionnaire of Personal Integration by Zagórska, Migut and Jelińska (2014) was used. The Questionnaire in question is an operationalization of the authorial conception of personal integration falling within the ambit of post-Eriksonian approach. Ontic integrity (Cronbach’s α < .7) was excluded from the analysis. The presence of a depressive episode or the lack of it explained 50 percent of the dispersion of the analyzed structure of traits. The variables with the most considerable input to the differentiation of the result profiles in two groups were trust, as the axial role in the model, and generativity. The variables defining the similarities of the groups in question were the sense of identity and intimacy. The variables such as autonomy, initiative and sense of industry had little impact on differences between the groups. Defining the fields of individual restrictions and strengths might be helpful in the prophylaxis and therapy of depression.

  • Issue Year: 22/2017
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 77-92
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish