The purpose of this article is to describe a program
of research on excessive reassurance-seeking and its
relation to depression. Relevant theory is articulated,
central predictions distilled, and empirical work de-
scribed. The research program is then placed within the
context of other depression science, and clinical impli-
cations of the work are noted. As such, the article may
be of interest to those studying the social and clinical
psychology of depression, as well as those engaged in
the psychotherapy of depressed people.

Coyne's Interpersonal Theory of Depression
Coyne ( 1976 b) theory proposed that initially
nondepressed but mildly dysphoric individuals may
seek reassurance from others to alleviate their doubts
as to their own worth and as to whether others truly
care about them. Others often respond with reassur-
ance, but to little avail, because the potentially de-
pressed person doubts the reassurance, attributing it
instead to others' sense of pity or obligation. The po-
tentially depressed person thus faces an intractable di-
lemma: He or she both needs and doubts others'
reassurance. The need is emotionally powerful and
thus temporarily predominates, compelling the poten-
tially depressed individual to again request others'
feedback; once received, however, the reassurance is
again doubted, and the pattern is repeated. Because the
pattern is repetitive and resistant to attempts to change
it, the increasingly depressed person's significant oth-
ers become frustrated and irritated, and thus become

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increasingly likely to reject the depressed individual
and also increasingly likely to become depressed
themselves. Rejection furthers the shrinkage and dis­
ruption of the depressed person's interpersonal envi­
ronment, which, in turn, maintains or exacerbates the
depressed person's symptoms. The theory thus de­
scribes an interpersonal process involving the gradual
worsening of depressive symptoms within the crucible
of close relationships, with implications for the causes,
maintenance, exacerbation, consequences, treatment,
and prevention of depression (see, e.g., Coyne, 1976 a;
Coyne et al., 1987; Gotlib & Robinson, 1982; Hammen & Peters, 1978; Hokanson, Rubert, Welker, Hollander, & Hedeen, 1989, for research stemming from the
model).

Elsewhere (e.g., Joiner, Alfano, & Metalsky, 1992;
Katz, Beach, & Joiner, 1998), we have argued that ex­
cessive reassurance-seeking constitutes the theory's
main ingredient, in that it serves as a type of interper­
sonal vehicle that transmits the distress and despera­
tion of depression from one person to another, with
untoward consequences for all. We define excessive
reassurance-seeking as the relatively stable tendency
to excessively and persistently seek assurances from
others that one is lovable and worthy, regardless of
whether such assurance has already been provided.
Our focus on excessive reassurance-seeking, in the
context of Coyne's theory, has produced two main
strands of research, one having to do with depression's
causes, the other with depression's consequences.
These are summarized next.

Excessive Reassurance-Seeking as a Vulnerability Factor for Depression
Within the context of nonexperimental
psychopathology research, how does one determine
whether a variable serves as a vulnerability factor for
psychopathology? Garber and Hollon ( 1991 ) devel­
oped a quite useful heuristic for this problem, focusing
on three necessary criteria for putative vulnerability
factors. First, a vulnerability factor and the syndrome
in question should covary. Second, a vulnerability fac­
tor should temporally precede the syndrome. And
third, the relation between a vulnerability and an out­
come should be nonspurious (e.g., should not be better
accounted ...

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