Depression explanation

• Depression is characterised by:

  • Negative thought patterns
  • Maladaptive thinking
  • Disrupted cognitive processes
• Faulty information processing can cause the person to

  • Focus on the negative
  • Ignore the positive
  • Blow small problems out of proportion
• Negative self-schemas are packets of information that interprets new innformationabout ourselves as negative
• Beck believed that depression was caused by a negative view of the world, the future, and oneself
• Ellis believed that depression is caused by irrational thoughts [ ABC model ]
• The ABC model for depression [ellis]

  Activating event

  Belief, rational / irrational

  Consequences, rational = healthy, irrational = unhealthy
• A weakness of this explanation for depression is that some depressed patients are angry and suffer from hallucinations, it cannot explain all aspects of depression.
• A strength of this explanation is its uses in successful therapy, irrational thoughts can be identified and challenged by a therapist.
• One weakness of this explanation is that not all cases of depression come from an activating event, therefore the explation is not complete as it does not explain all cases