Introduction

Depression affects three interpersonal processes, namely problems with social skills, reactions of others to depression and dysfunctional family relationships.

Social skills deficits and depressions

According to Lewinsohn behavioral therapy, people with depression have reduced social skills, which means they miss out on positive reinforcers from the environment. This will make the depression worse. Interpersonal reactions to someone else's depressive behavior are sympathetic at first, but soon rejective. Poor social skills are therefore a cause, but also a consequence of depression.

Social skills of people with depression are often scored through a self-report. Evidence has been found by Segrin that people with depression score their own social skills more negatively than others would. However, a study by Lewinsohn indicated that people with depression look at their own skills more realistically than non-depressed people. Non-depressed people would overestimate their own social skills. This pattern is called the depressive realism effect.

It remains therefore unclear whether a self-report is reliable enough to determine the social skills of a depressed person. Nevertheless, in the majority of cases, depressed people score their own social skills lower than non-depressed people do.

Social skills of people with depression can also be determined by the friends of those with depression. People with depression have lower social skills in their social interactions than people without depression. So apparently there is something in the social behavior of people with depression that stands out among their friends, resulting in a lower assessment of the social skills of those with depression.

Eye contact

People with depression make less eye contact with their conversation partners than non-depressed people do. The facial expressions of people with depression are less spontaneous and lively than people without depression.

Facial expressions

Depressed people have more control over their facial expressions and suppress a smile easier. This makes it more difficult for the other person to evaluate the facial expression of the depression. Decreased social skills are not only visible through problems with appropriate and effective implementation of social behavior, but also through understanding the behavior of others. Depressed people have a negative bias in which they see neutral facial expressions of others as negative and have more difficulty recognizing a happy face. People with depression therefore have difficulty looking happy and recognizing a happy face.

Posture

People with depression nod less during a conversation. They also use fewer hand gestures while telling a story.

Language

People with depression talk slower, softer, less, have more and longer pauses and respond more slowly to the behavior of others. They are more negative towards acquaintances than to strangers.

According to Lewinsohn's behavioral theory about depression, impaired social skills are a cause of depression. There is conflicting evidence for this. An alternative possibility is that poor social skills are the result of depression. The scar hypothesis states that people have noticed during a depressive period that they had reduced social skills, so that these reduced social skills increase the risk of a new depression in the future. A third possibility for the relationship between poor social skills and depression is that poor social skills contribute to the cause of depression or are a type of vulnerability factor in the development of depression.

Those who have poor social skills and stressful environmental experiences have an increased chance of getting a depression. Having poor social skills makes people vulnerable to stressful events.

In line with the social skills deficit hypothesis, most people have problems with social skills when they are in depression. Poor social skills can be seen as a cause of depression, as a consequence of depression and as a vulnerability factor for developing depression.

Interpersonal responses to depression

Coyne's interpersonal interaction model is based on the influence of reactions of others on people with depression. Depressive behavior causes a negative reaction in others. In the beginning people will show sympathy, but after a while this will turn into irritation. This takes care of the depressed person and sees this as rejection. This rejection maintains the depression.

Excessive Reassurance Seeking

Coyne has observed that a lot of communication from a depressed person is aimed at confirming the relationship with the other. The search for reassurance often occurs with depressed people. This is irritating to the others and therefore provokes rejection. People with depression are so often looking for confirmation because they have low self-esteem and have experienced many negative things. According to the circumplex model, interpersonal behavior elicits a certain expected response from others. If someone does not respond according to this expectation, this causes a negative affect for the other. If the partner of the person who is depressed gives the depressed person attention and confirmation, the partner expects the depressed person to do something with this. If the depressed person responds by seeking confirmation, the partner's motivation runs out to help and support the depressed person even longer.

Emotional Contagion

The group of friends of a depression is often more irritated than people without a depressive acquaintance.

Interpersonal Rejection of People with Depression

People with depression are more likely to be rejected by others. Men in particular are rejected. Strangers are rejected rather than acquaintances. According to the self-verification theory, people are motivated to maintain their self-image in order to increase their sense of control. For someone who is depressed this can be seen in the fact that people with depression mainly pay attention to negative feedback from others, because this info confirms their self-image. This ensures the maintenance of the depression.

Family relations and depression

Certain interactions within a family will increase the risk factors for getting a depression. Emotional abuse in the family creates a fear of criticism and rejection. Rose and Abramson (1992) stated that emotional abuse is very harmful to the child's self-image. If this self-image is repeatedly brought down by the parent, it will lead to a vulnerability to the development of depression. In the case of physical and sexual abuse, this association also exists, but it is less strong, because the child's self-image is not directly brought down by the parent.

There is a strong mutual relationship between depression and marital problems. Spouses with a depressed partner have a lot of problems with this and also have a greater chance of getting a depression. The interaction between men and women is often negative, conflicts are handled poorly. Another factor that reinforces the relationship between depression and marital problems is the fact that young people with depression marry too quickly. They see marriage as a solution for their depressive feelings.

Women are more sensitive than men to the symptoms of depression, leading to a worse marriage. A bad marriage leads to a worsening of depressive feelings among men and women. Having depression causes many problems with upbringing. As a result, children with a depressed father / mother have a greater chance of depression.

Conclusion

People are social animals. Social relationships play a major role in emotion regulation. If something goes wrong within such a relationship, it has a major negative impact on human emotions. The other way around also works. If someone is depressed, this will have a negative impact on interpersonal relationships. There are two interpersonal processes that can increase the risk of developing depression. First, it is having poor social skills. Secondly, having poor self-esteem through upbringing with abuse.