cognitive explanation for depression

• Ellis' ABC model explains how irrational thoughts affect our behaviour and emotional state
• Good mental health is the result of rational thinking, defined as thinking in ways that allow people to be happy and free from pain
• Conditions like anxiety and depression (poor mental health) result from irrational thoughts
• Ellis defined irrational thoughts, not as illogical or unrealistic thoughts, but as any thoughts that interfere with us being happy and free from pain
• The A stands for activating event - this can be anything that happens to us which triggers an emotion
• B stands for belief - these are the beliefs we hold about ourselves, others and the world around us
• C stands for consequences - these are the emotions and behaviours resulting from our beliefs
• Types of irrational beliefs

  • "musturbation" must always succeed or achieve perfection
  • 'I-can't-stand-itis' is the belief that it is a major disaster whenever something does not go smoothly
  • Utopianism is the belief that life is always meant to be fair
• One strength of Elli's ABC model

  • real-world application in the psychological treatment of depression
  • rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)
  • the idea of REBT is that by vigorously arguing with a depressed person the therapist can alter the irrational beliefs that are making them unhappy
  • some evidence to support the idea that REBT can both change negative beliefs and relieve the symptoms of depression (David et al. 2018)
• One limitation of Ellis's ABC model of depression is that it only a partial explanation

  • reactive depression: when depression is often triggered by life events 'activating events'
  • endogenous depression: when depression is not traceable to life events and it is not obvious what leads the person to become depressed at a particular time
  • Ellis's ABC model is less useful for explaining endogenous depression
  • Ellis's model can only explain some cases of depression and is therefore only a partial explanation
• Ethical issues

  • The ABC model of depression is controversial because it locates responsibility for depression purely with the depressed person
  • Critics say this is effectively blaming the depressed person, which would be unfair