A Study of Phenomena of Shame and Social Comparison in Depressive Disorders
Abstract
Background: The phenomena of shame and social comparison and their association with psychopathology especially with depression has been studied extensively in western countries but there is a dearth of research on this subject in Indian setting.
Aim & Objectives: To explore the phenomena of shame and social comparison and its correlation with depression.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at Psychiatric Centre Jaipur (SMS Medical College, Jaipur) on OPD basis from July 1998 to December 1999. This was a case control study, 50 matched subjects with age range 15-60 years were included in study and control group. Study Group consisted of 50 depressed patients as per ICD-10 criteria (F32 and F33), controls were selected from general population randomly and were free from any psychiatric illness. Beck depression inventory, The Other as Shamer Scale, Social Comparison Scale were used in the study.
Statistical Analysis: Mean, Standard deviation, Student ‘t’ test, Pearson’s correlation co-efficient were used to analyse the data.
Result: Mean OAS score of study group was 27.08 and of control group 6.62, and the difference between these scores in both the group was found to be statistically significant. A positive correlation was found between depression BDI scores and OAS scores for study group at r=+0.7033. There was an inverse correlation between depression BDI scores and social comparison rating scores for study group at r= -0.2726.
Conclusion: Shame and social comparison are found to be important variables in the phenomenology of depression. However, further research investigating the relationship between shame, social comparison and depression is needed, to support the findings of this study in Indian depressives.
How to cite this article:
Yadav A, Sharma P, Kamra A. A Study of Phenomena of Shame and Social Comparison in Depressive Disorders. J Adv Res Psychol Psychother 2019; 2(3&4): 4-10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2581.5822.201910
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