Depression

• Behavioural characteristics for depression :

  • Shift in activity level
  • Change in sleep & eating behaviour
  • Aggression & self-harm
• Emotional Characteristics for depression:

  • Sadness
  • Anger
  • Lowered in self-esteem
• Cognitive characteristics for depression :

  • Poor concentration
  • Negative & irrational thoughts
  • Absolutist thinking
• Musturbatory thinking - thinking that certain ideas must be true in order to be happy
• Ellis' ABC Model:

  • Activating event
  • Belief
  • Consequence
• Ellis' ABC Model focuses on irrational beliefs
• Beck believed depression was the result of holding negative schemas about the world, the self & the future.
• Beck's negative triad contains the world, the self & the future
• Depression is the result of holding negative schemas about the world, the self & the future. These negative schemas are activated whenever the person encounters a new situation that resembles the original conditions where these schemas were learned. Negative schemas kead to systematic cognitive biases & are a self fulfilling prophecy
• Cognitive explanations for depression AO3:

  • ❌ Ignores biological factors
  • ✅ Blames the client
  • ❌ Irrational beliefs may be realistic
  • ✅ Applications in therapy
• Cognitive explanations for depression AO3:

  • ❌ Ignores biological factors - low levels of serotonin
  • ✅ Blames the client - gives the client power to change the way things are
  • ❌ Irrational beliefs may be realistic - studies show that depressive realists gave more accurate estimates of the likelihood of a disaster
  • ✅ Applications in therapy - CBT
• CBT is based on Ellis' ABC model which was extended to ABCDEF
• CBT involves:

  • Disputing irrational thoughts & beliefs
  • Effects of disputing
  • Feelings
• In CBT, clients are guven homework & encouraged to be more active. Therapists give unconditional positive regard
• Types of disputing:

  • Logical
  • Empirical
  • Pragmatic
• Types of disputing:

  • Logical - self defeating beliefs don't follow logically from the info available
  • Empirical - self defeating beliefs may not be consistent with reality
  • Pragmatic - emphasises the lack of usefulness of self defeating beliefs
• Logical disputing - self defeating beliefs don't follow logically from the info available
• Empirical disputing - self defeating beliefs may not be consistent with reality
• Pragmatic disputing - emphasises the lack of usefulness of self defeating beliefs
• CBT AO3 :

  • ✅ Research support
  • ❌ Individual differences
  • ✅ Support for behavioural activation
  • ❌ Other treatments
  • ❌ Expensive
• CBT AO3 :

  • ✅ Research support - Ellis claimed a 90% success rate with an average of 27 sessions. Factors relating to the therapist & client's commitment affected this
  • ❌ Individual differences - less suitable for people with high levels of irrational beliefs or stress
  • ✅ Support for behavioural activation - benefits of exercise on depression. Pts who exercised for 6 months had lower relapse rates than antidepressants
  • ❌ Other treatments - antidepressants are cheaper & require less commitment
  • ❌ Expensive - takes 27 sessions on average