Abstract: | Discusses the attributional theory of depression and, using clinical data as evidence, argues that identifying the content of an attribution is not sufficient to understand depression. It is suggested that attributional theories were developed outside the clinical context (i.e., working directly with depressed individuals) and therefore do not address the issue of personal meaning. A major goal of psychotherapy is the derivation of personal meaning (C. Rogers, 1947; W. Snyder, 1949) and must be associated with attributions for a fuller understanding of depression. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved) |