Cruwys et a 227 It is clear that within the health and social-psychological 1983).At the same time (and even where this was not the literatures more generally,shared social identity has been case;for example,because depression was not directly shown to foster and prov de a foundation for he range of s found that interventions that increase ial eng t n indicate den gnitive health(C Haslam,Haslam et a 2010),perceived social suppor (Gleibs,Haslam,Haslam,&Jones,2011),life satisfactior is the psych (Knight 2010 012:Knigh dness that epression Two further intervention studies have been carried out Evidence for H6:Social interventionsfo on wa will be on w erapy groulp o e mc the exten chronic mental illness (Cruwys et al.2014).Social identifi cation was also found to increase the effectiveness of CBT oup psychom rapy,such tha its capacity to inform effective prevention and treatment pro in d therapy group s :et tocol s.As dep is an extremely comm chronic,an This line of research is very much in its infaney and such elap in be ir age future as well as current stressors.There is substantial populat ess,mhes evidence that social interventions for depression are both ad0 ong-t ey cation among members of vulnerable groups have a good prospect of counteracting depression er in line with H6 inte ntions that include a cor ponent that facilitates social interaction in groups appear to ive,relative to those whose focus is on Why and How Do Social Identities Reduce Depression? psyc onon-one suppor It is clea fom the that social id Evidence of the specific role played by social identifica tion also emerges co stently from a program of small-scale argued that social identification is the mechanism through ntervention studies examin the ettects which cial relationships depression.More fun ever,one m Ou that bringing residents together to interact in terms of socialide the psychological basis for multiple processes that are anti es as members of (a)reminiscence groups (C.Haslam et thet to depression- all of which have already beer al,2008), entlemen's (Glei Haslar touched on this reviev In bret es provi 2012:Knight e al 2010)(d)water clubs facilitate socialin proe and of Haslam,Haslam,&Jo es,2011).and (e)religious groups of these four pro esses,we argue,con (Ysseldyk et al 2013).In all these studies,pa ticipants wh tributes to the power of social identity to protect against were assigned o group-ba tha 1 y in Fig ement outcomes relative to relevant mediators.Not least this is because,more generally,we co rgue that social identity matters nc only beca of what i ent our p ent c ms, eral s to (e.g.,soc support:S.A. m et a 5)b und 01 01 h served to increase social identification led to a marked reduc in terms of the psychological benefits (or"resources)that i depression (typically measured by th Anxiety and Depression Scale;Zigmond rom the 30 Cruwys et al. 227 It is clear that within the health and social-psychological literatures more generally, shared social identity has been shown to foster and provide a foundation for the range of depression-preventative phenomena variously described as social engagement, participation, support, networks, func￾tioning, and connectedness (C. Haslam, Jetten, & Haslam, 2012; Morton, Wright, Peters, Reynolds, & Haslam, 2012). In short, it appears that social identification is the psycho￾logical process that makes possible those forms of social connectedness that mitigate against depression. Evidence for H6: Social interventions for depression will be more effective to the extent that they increase social identification A crucial indicator of the utility of the SIA for researchers and practitioners working in the field of depression will be its capacity to inform effective prevention and treatment pro￾tocols. As depression is an extremely common, chronic, and relapsing condition, interventions need to be effective (and cost-effective) in boosting an individual’s capacity to man￾age future as well as current stressors. There is substantial evidence that social interventions for depression are both effective and boost long-term resilience (Hawkley & Cacioppo, 2010; McWhirter, 1990; Perese & Wolf, 2005). Moreover, in line with H6, interventions that include a com￾ponent that facilitates social interaction in groups appear to be particularly effective, relative to those whose focus is on skills training, psycho-education, or one-on-one support (Cattan, White, Bond, & Learmouth, 2005). Evidence of the specific role played by social identifica￾tion also emerges consistently from a program of small-scale intervention studies designed to examine the effects of attempts to increase social identification on the mental health of care home residents. In various studies, this involved bringing residents together to interact in terms of social iden￾tities as members of (a) reminiscence groups (C. Haslam et al., 2008), (b) ladies and gentlemen’s clubs (Gleibs, Haslam, Jones, et al., 2011), (c) design teams (C. Haslam, Haslam, et al., 2012; Knight et al., 2010), (d) water clubs (Gleibs, Haslam, Haslam, & Jones, 2011), and (e) religious groups (Ysseldyk et al., 2013). In all these studies, participants who were assigned to group-based treatments that led to the development of meaningful social identities showed improvement on health-related outcomes relative to relevant control groups. Most pertinent to our present concerns, several of these studies (notably Gleibs, Haslam, Jones, et al., 2011; C. Haslam, Haslam et al., 2010) found that interventions that served to increase social identification led to a marked reduc￾tion in residents’ depression (typically measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; Zigmond & Snaith, 1983). At the same time (and even where this was not the case; for example, because depression was not directly assessed), all studies found that interventions that increased social identification led to improvement on factors known to counter-indicate depression, including cognitive health (C. Haslam, Haslam et al., 2010), perceived social support (Gleibs, Haslam, Haslam, & Jones, 2011), life satisfaction (Knight et al., 2010), and increased social interaction (C. Haslam, Haslam, et al., 2012; Knight et al., 2010). Two further intervention studies have been carried out with vulnerable populations who either have depression or are at high risk for developing depression. Social identifica￾tion with a therapy group or community organisation was found to reduce maladaptive thinking styles associated chronic mental illness (Cruwys et al., 2014). Social identifi￾cation was also found to increase the effectiveness of CBT group psychotherapy, such that only those patients who iden￾tified with the therapy group showed a clinically significant reduction in depression symptoms (Cruwys et al., in press). This line of research is very much in its infancy, and such studies need to be corroborated in larger clinical trials with other populations. Nevertheless, these studies provide con￾sistent support for H6 and very promising evidence that interventions whose explicit goal is to boost social identifi￾cation among members of vulnerable groups have a good prospect of counteracting depression. Why and How Do Social Identities Reduce Depression? It is clear from the preceding review that social identity pro￾cesses have a crucial role to play in depression. We have argued that social identification is the mechanism through which social relationships affect depression. More funda￾mentally, however, one might ask exactly why and how this is the case. Our answer is that social identification provides the psychological basis for multiple processes that are anti￾thetical to depression—all of which have already been touched on in this review. In brief, social identities provide meaning to life, encourage the provision and receipt of social support, facilitate social influence, and engender a sense of belongingness. Each of these four processes, we argue, con￾tributes to the power of social identity to protect against depression, as depicted schematically in Figure 1. This, though, is not intended to be a list of potential mediators. Not least this is because, more generally, we argue that social identity matters not only because of what it leads to (e.g., social support; S. A. Haslam et al., 2005) but also, and more crucially, because of what it is. This point accords with a redefinition of the concept of social identity in terms of the psychological benefits (or “resources”) that it provides (Jetten et al., 2012). Furthermore, we argue that depression can be understood as a state that results from the Downloaded from psr.sagepub.com at Remen University of China on September 6, 2015