Personality Science: Three Approaches and Their Applications to the Causes and Treatment of Depression

The latest volume from respected scholar and researcher Marvin Zuckerman is a masterful examination of three contemporary scientific approaches to the study of personality--the psychodynamic, the trait-psychobiological, and the cognitive. The book also focuses on corresponding theoretical frameworks that continue to guide much of the research on personality disorders--Attachment and Separation, the psychobiological paradigm, and cognitive frameworks.

Most books on personality theories devote little attention to the applied, clinical realm. Yet Personality Science engages the reader in a discussion of applied personality theories on psychopathology and the crucial contemporary research they have generated: prospective studies from childhood to adulthood, and concurrent studies of the biological correlates of major personality traits.

In the concluding chapters of this work, Professor Zuckerman applies the three approaches to the psychopathology of depression--specifically, to Major Depressive Disorder and dysthymia--surveying the theories and research on the etiology of depression, and exploring clinical applications of the three personality approaches (i.e., psychodynamic and cognitive therapy, and psychopharmacological therapy) to the treatment of the disorder.