Depression and Suicide in All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga:A Cognitive Reading

Abstract

The present study deals with the cognitive theory of depression in Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright Places and Jasmin Warga’s My Heart and Other Black Holes. The aim of this study is to trace the cognitive behavioral theory of depression and suicidal thoughts in both fictions. This study discusses object loss, loss of self-esteem, and helplessness as mechanisms responsible for depression which are major motives for suicidal thoughts and attempts. In the present study, Niven and Warga's novels will be examined from a cognitive behavioral approach focusing on the novelists emphasizing the mechanisms responsible for depression. The thesis is a study of Beck's Cognitive theory of Depression, Cognitive Behavior theory (CBT), Albert Ellis (ABC) model, and Seligman's theory of Learned Helplessness. According to Beck the occurrence of negative events affects the individual's thoughts and interactions. This negative event could be loss, failure or trauma; and it can easily lead the individual to be depressed. Experiencing negative or traumatic events can lead to the formation of dysfunctional beliefs which lead to negative self-view and as a result it leads to depression. Beck's theory of depression is a great work which was guidance to many researchers and psychologists. Ellis asserts that the individual experiences an unpleasant traumatic event which he calls “A” the activating event; that formulates a set of believes “B” which leads the individual to “C” the consequence that is reflected on the individual’s emotions and behavior. He explains that the ABC model of depression goes in sequence; the individual cannot reach “C” without experiencing “A” and “B”. Moreover Seligman’s Learned Helplessness, the individual experiences a recurrent traumatic events which eventually lead him to be passive and a set of negative thoughts start to arise; leading the individual to be depressed.