Modern Psychological Studies Volume 21 Number 1 Article 5 2015 Love is a battlefield: experience of love in relation to depression Laura Hill Abilene Christian University Cherisse Flanagan Abilene Christian University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Hill, Laura and Flanagan, Cherisse (2015) "Love is a battlefield: experience of love in relation to depression," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 21 : No. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol21/iss1/5 This articles is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals, Magazines, and Newsletters at UTC Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Modern Psychological Studies by an authorized editor of UTC Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD I HILL & FLANAGAN Love is a Battlefield: Experience of Love in Relation to Depression Laura Hill and Cherisse Flanagan Abilene Christian University Depression is a debilitating mental illness that entails much more than just sadness. In an attempt to discover if there is a relationship between experience of love and depression, a survey was created to assess these variables. The survey included the Experience of Love Questionnaire (ELQ), an author-developed scale, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (Radloffi 1977). The ELQ consisted of three subscales measuring experience of love in family, friends, and romantic relationships. The hypothesis of this study was that there would be a negative correlation between experience of love and depression. The survey was completed by 103 participants and the results revealed a correlation between the two variables. The correlation was significant in the friend and family ELQs but, surprisingly, not in the romantic relationship ELQ. This was unexpected, so romantic relationships were further analyzed, revealing that there was a significant correlation, but only in the married part of the sample. These results could lead to a belief that it is possible to decrease depressive symptoms f relationships and perceptions of love improve. Introduction insignificance and results in depression. By studying perceived experience of love and its In the United States, depression is a relationship to depression, it is possible to start common mental health problem. According to identifying some of the possible roots of the National Institute of Mental Health depression and, consequently, improving (2012), approximately 16 million (6.9 percent) treatments for certain types of depression. adults aged 18 or older in the U.S. had at least The goal of the present study is to explore one major depressive episode in the past year. the correlation between the experience of love Symptoms such as persistent sadness, feelings and depression. It is hypothesized that of hopelessness, loss of interest, decreased individuals who misinterpret the love they energy, difficulty concentrating, and difficulty receive will have negative experiences of love sleeping make depression a serious mental more often than those who correctly interpret illness (National Institute of Mental Health, received love which, in turn, may lead to 2012). Depending on the severity of depression. The purpose is to investigate the depression, people can be rendered completely amount of love a person believes that they incapable of participating in mundane receive from significant groups of people in activities. their lives (family, friends, and significant Negative experiences or perceptions of love others) and how it relates with depression. could lead to the existence of relationship problems, thus making it one potential reason Literature Review for the occurrence of depression. For the purposes of the present study, perceived Attachment Theory experience of love is distinguished from love Human beings seem to have a proclivity for itself and called experience of love. For example, being in community with others and, without if someone has an insecure attachment style, community, serious psychological issues can their experience of love is more likely to be arise. John Bowlby's attachment theory (1969) negative, which possibly leads to feelings of roots these needs for human connection in MODERN PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES 25 LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD I HILL & FLANAGAN childhood parental bonds and interactions. with depression. Gnilka, Ashby, and Noble According to the theory, children become (2011) added even more variables when they attached to certain trusted individuals, usually studied maladaptive perfectionism, depression, parents, and tend to seek proximity with them hopelessness, life satisfaction and attachment. during stressful events. Typically, if nearness of The results suggested that insecure attachment the attachment figure is not obtainable, the styles (avoidant and anxious) were associated stress intensifies and psychological distress with maladaptive perfectionism, hopelessness, occurs. A study by Parks, Della Porta, Pierce, lower life satisfaction, and depression. and Lyumbomirsky (2012) suggests that while Although attachment theory originally people sought happiness in a variety of addressed children, the theory has been applied different ways, most people chose to find to adults as well. A study by Reynolds, happiness in personal relationships. The study Searight, and Ratwik (2014) applied further emphasized the need for relationships attachment theory to adults by focusing on the in maintaining psychological well-being and correlation between insecure attachment styles preventing distress. and rumination, then turning to look at Research regarding attachment styles and rumination's association with depression. They how they are related to depression have shown found a strong correlation between rumination correlations between higher depression levels and depression, which could potentially stem and insecure attachment styles. Canton- from insecure attachment styles. Not only was Cortes, Cortes, and Canton (2015) found that attachment thought to be associated with girls with a secure attachment style had lower depression in general, but research also rates of depression than those with insecure suggests that attachment styles are good styles and that anxious attachment was the predictors for both early and late-onset most detrimental to psychological health. A depression meaning that early childhood similar study was conducted on patients with parental events could affect the rest of a spinal cord injuries that discovered a person's life (Paradiso, Naridze, & Holm- correlation between anxious and avoidant Brown, 2012). All in all, the correlations found attachment styles, depression, and resilience; in these studies exhibit the significance of depression increased and resilience decreased strong family relationships on attachment in conjunction with these insecure styles styles and, thus, on psychological well being. (Dodd, Driver, Warren, Riggs, & Clark, 2015). Attachment Theory and Friends Other studies with new variables produced Research suggests that a secure attachment the same findings that insecure attachment is with family translates into healthier often correlated with depression. Evraire and relationships with friends. A child's first Dozois (2014) researched correlations between exposure to human relationships and attachment, reassurance seeking, and attachment are often through the family unit, depression. The combination of reassurance especially parents, and that initial relationship seeking and insecure attachment correlated experience functions as an example and with increased depression, but the behavior of foundation for other relationships throughout seeking reassurance alone might not be the child's life. A hypothesis called the associated with depression. Instead, there was emotional security hypothesis suggested that if probably a combination effect in which the inter-parental conflict existed, then the ability behavior, as well as individual characteristics to effectively regulate emotions was lowered, like attachment style, created an association MODERN PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES 26 LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD I HILL & FLANAGAN attachments became insecure, and depression and depression. More specifically, research was increased. In turn, this made it less likely that conducted to distinguish if interpersonal children would retain friendships for longer attachment and group identification processes than a year, because their ability to regulate and each correlated with depression. The results cope with negative emotions was undermined. suggested that there was a negative correlation According to this hypothesis, poor between depression and friendship group relationships lead to increased depression and identification while there was a positive increased depression could lead to poor correlation between anxious and avoidant relationships creating a negative cycle attachment and depression. This study further (Schwarz, Stutz, & Ledermann, 2012). supported the idea that social support helped Parks, Della Porta, Pierce, Zilca, and reduce overall depressive symptoms and that Lyumbomirsky (2012) conducted a study to insecure attachment styles could cause determine who was most likely to seek personality types that resulted in increased happiness and what they did to try to increase depression rates. These studies help explain the their happiness. "When asked which of the 14 importance of quality friendships and secure activity categories was most important