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A Teoria da mente e a depressão
| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
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| 1.08 MB | Adobe PDF |
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Abstract(s)
Denomina-se por Teoria da Mente uma habilidade social correspondente à capacidade que nos permite reconhecer, atribuir e compreender os estados mentais tanto em nós próprios como nos outros. Reflete-se nos pensamentos, crenças, desejos, emoções, intenções e atitudes, que a tornam automática. Assim, o conceito de teoria da mente surge como base para a construção de uma relação da pessoa consigo própria bem como com o outro. Do ponto de vista explicativo, neste caso a teoria da mente baseia-se em recursos de processamento tanto cognitivos, em que se percebe a perspetiva do outro, como afetivos, que se reflete na resposta emocional aos sentimentos do outro.
A depressão é uma das perturbações que pode afetar o desempenho desta habilidade. Esta perturbação tem um grande impacto negativo na vida da pessoa, tanto a nível social como em outras áreas do seu funcionamento, sabendo que a empatia, uma das características principais relacionada com a teoria da mente, poderá também estar relacionada com os sintomas depressivos.
O objetivo principal deste estudo é contribuir para a compreensão do funcionamento da teoria da mente em indivíduos com depressão e sem depressão, tendo em atenção ao grau de severidade da mesma, sendo que tem como objetivos específicos verificar o efeito da presença de sintomas depressivos na teoria da mente, verificar a relação entre a depressão e a empatia e verificar o efeito da empatia na teoria da mente.
O estudo foi realizado com 74 participantes, sendo que 14 foram eliminadas, tendo em conta o critério de exclusão sobre a presença de ansiedade social, de modo a isolar a depressão para uma amostra homogénea.
Em modo de conclusão, ao contrário do esperado, podemos afirmar que não se verificam alterações significativas na capacidade da teoria da mente em indivíduos com e sem depressão.
The Theory of Mind is a social aptitude that provides people the capacity to recognize, attribute and understand mental states in themselves as well as in the others. It is reflected by thoughts, beliefs, desires, emotions, intentions and attitudes that make it automatic. As a result, the concept of Theory of Mind emerges as the basis both for the construction of a relationship of a person with oneself as well as with the others. In this case, from the explanatory point of view, the theory of mind is based both on cognitive processing resources, in which prevails the perspective of the other, as well as affective processing resources, in which the emotional response to the feelings of the other are reflected. Depression is one of the disorders that can affect the performance of this ability. This disorder has a negative impact on a person’s social life as well in other areas of its functioning. Having this into consideration, it is important to mention that empathy, one of the main characteristics related to the theory of mind, may also be related to depressive symptoms. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the theory of the mind’s functioning on individuals with and without depression, having in consideration different levels of severity for this disorder. As so, this study intends as its specific objectives the verification of the presence’s effects of depressive symptoms in the theory of mind as well as the verification of the relationship between depression and empathy and finally the effect of empathy on the theory of mind. The study was conducted with 74 participants from whom 14 were eliminated based on the exclusion criteria related to the presence of social anxiety. This decision was taken in order to isolate the depression study to a more homogeneous sample. In conclusion and contrarily to what was expected, there were no significant changes in the ability of the theory of mind in individuals with and without depression.
The Theory of Mind is a social aptitude that provides people the capacity to recognize, attribute and understand mental states in themselves as well as in the others. It is reflected by thoughts, beliefs, desires, emotions, intentions and attitudes that make it automatic. As a result, the concept of Theory of Mind emerges as the basis both for the construction of a relationship of a person with oneself as well as with the others. In this case, from the explanatory point of view, the theory of mind is based both on cognitive processing resources, in which prevails the perspective of the other, as well as affective processing resources, in which the emotional response to the feelings of the other are reflected. Depression is one of the disorders that can affect the performance of this ability. This disorder has a negative impact on a person’s social life as well in other areas of its functioning. Having this into consideration, it is important to mention that empathy, one of the main characteristics related to the theory of mind, may also be related to depressive symptoms. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the theory of the mind’s functioning on individuals with and without depression, having in consideration different levels of severity for this disorder. As so, this study intends as its specific objectives the verification of the presence’s effects of depressive symptoms in the theory of mind as well as the verification of the relationship between depression and empathy and finally the effect of empathy on the theory of mind. The study was conducted with 74 participants from whom 14 were eliminated based on the exclusion criteria related to the presence of social anxiety. This decision was taken in order to isolate the depression study to a more homogeneous sample. In conclusion and contrarily to what was expected, there were no significant changes in the ability of the theory of mind in individuals with and without depression.
Description
Keywords
Teoria da mente Depressão Empatia