Evaluation

• a strength is that there is good supporting evidence. A lot of research has supported the idea that depression is associated with faulty information processing, negative self-schemas and negative triad. Review done by Clark and back concluded that not only cognitive vulnerabilities more common in depressed people but they preceded the depression
• A strength is that there is practice support from CBT. Becks cognitive explanation forms the basis of CBT. All cognitive aspects of depression cause challenges in CBT. This means that becks model can be used to explain the cognitive aspect of depression
• A weakness is that it doesnt explain all aspects of depression. It only explains basic symptoms but it is a complex disorder with a range of symptom so not all can be explained. This means that it cannot be used as a full explanation of depression.
• A weakness is that the development is not clear. This is because there is not a clear reason as to why people develop negative thoughts. Genetic factors or negative lifestyle experiences may predispose a person to a negative thinking style. therefore, if biology does shape a persons thinking style then maybe genetic factors are the root cause of depression. This means that it is not a full explaintion and would need more of an interactionalist approach to join the cognitive and biological explanation.