Origins of cognitive vulnerability to depression

Vulnerability has increasingly become the organizing construct around which much research in psychopathology is organized. This is particularly the case for depression, where researchers have begun to focus considerable attention on the variables that may predispose some individuals to this disorder. Much of this attention has been directed toward understanding the origins of these presumed vulnerability processes. In line with this interest, vulnerability origins stemming from schema models, hopelessness models, and attachment theory are discussed, as is the idea of disrupted parent-child interactions in the creation of vulnerability. Within this latter category the link between abuse, maltreatment, cognitive factors and vulnerability is examined. Possible directions for future theory and research in cognitive vulnerability and depression are then discussed.