The Psychology Book

154

See also: Fritz Perls 112–17 ■ Carl Rogers 130–37 ■ Albert Ellis 142–45 ■

Melvin Lerner 242–43 ■ George Kelly 337

I

f people could stop blaming

themselves for things that

have happened in their lives,

the rate of depression would

decrease dramatically. This premise

is the foundation of Dorothy Rowe’s

success in treating the problem.

We are generally brought up to

believe that the world is a fair and

rational place; that if we are good,

good things will happen to us. But

if things go well when we are good,

what does that say about us when

things go wrong? Our belief in a

“Just World”—where the good are

rewarded and the bad punished—

makes us blame ourselves for the

bad things that happen to us.

When we are wronged or hurt in

some way, there is a tendency to ask,

“Why did this happen to me?” People

look back to see what they did to

cause the situation, even in the case

of a natural disaster. Self-blame, guilt,

helplessness, and shame irrationally

arise when bad things happen, and

these can lead to depression.

Rowe explained that we create

and choose our beliefs. Once we

understand this, we can let go of

the idea of a Just World and think

more rationally about negative

experiences. We might suffer from

bad parenting, job loss, or even a

devastating tornado, but these

things did not happen because we

are doomed to misfortune, nor do

we deserve to be treated badly.

To recover from these setbacks,

we need to stop personalizing

events, start externalizing them,

and realize that sometimes bad

things just happen. ■

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Personal construct theory

BEFORE

1940s Gestalt therapy is

founded, introducing the

notion that perception

influences meaning.

1955 George Kelly publishes

The Psychology of Personal

Constructs, outlining the

theory that everyone has a set

of constructs (beliefs) about

the world and the people in it.

1960 Psychologist and

statistician Max Hamilton

constructs the Hamilton

Depression Rating Scale

(HAM-D), a tool used to

measure clinical depression.

AFTER

1980 Psychologist Melvin

Lerner publishes The Belief in

a Just World: A Fundamental

Delusion, explaining how we

wrongly believe that people

get what they deserve.

To turn natural

sadness into depression,

all you have to do is blame

yourself for the disaster

that has befallen you.

Dorothy Rowe

ONLY GOOD

P E O P L E G E T

DEPRESSED

DOROTHY ROWE (1930– )