A03

• Strength = emphasises clients’ responsibility

  • cognitive approach suggests that it is the client who is responsible for their disorder
  • placing emphasis on the client is positive because it gives the client the power to change their behaviour and seek treatment
• Strength = practical applications in therapy

  • cognitive explanations have both been applied to cognitive behavioural therapy
  • CBT is consistently found to be best treatment for depression
  • all cognitive aspects of depression can be identified and challenged during CBT
  • this means a therapist can challenge them and encourage the patient to test whether they are true
• Limitation = alternative explanations

  • the biological approach to understanding mental disorders suggests that genes and neurotransmitters may cause depression
  • e.g. research supports the role of low levels of neurotransmitter serotonin in depressed people and has also found a gene responsible for this is 10 times more common in people with depression
  • success of drug therapies suggests diathesis-stress model may be more appropriate - individuals with a genetic vulnerability for depression are more prone to the effects of living in a negative environment, which then leads to negative irrational thinking
  • existence of alternative approaches and effective therapies suggest depression cannot be solely explained by cognitive approach
• Limitation = doesn’t explain all types of depression

  • doesn’t successfully explain all types of depression
  • e.g. not all people develop depression as a result of an activating event (reactive depression)
  • some have depression without an obvious cause and this is considered different to ‘reactive depression’
  • Ellis’ ABC model would struggle to explain these different types of depression and therefore is only a partial explanation for depression
• What are the strengths of the cognitive approach to explaining depression?

  1. Emphasises clients’ responsibility
  2. Practical applications in therapy
• What are the limitations of the cognitive approach to explaining depression?

  1. Alternative explanations
  2. Doesn’t explain all types of depression