Abstract: Both Beck’s cognitive theory and the theory of hopeless depression are primary theories in the field of depression. Negative cognitive biases, according to them, are assumed as the vulnerability to depression. However, researches into “depressive realism”, “positive illusion”, and related phenomena which reveal depressive individuals tend to be more objective and accurate in cognition than non-depressive ones refute the existence of negative cognitive biases. This discrepancy reflects the dominating influence of the disease model over contemporary psychology. Contrary to the negativity focus of previous theories, positive psychology attempts to construct a “positive” explanation on depression.

Key words: depression, cognitive theory of depression, depressive realism, positive psychology, positive psychotherapy