Cognitive explanations for depression

• What does Beck say are the three things increase vulnerability to depression?

  • Faulty information processing
  • Negative self-schema
  • The Negative triad
• What is faulty information processing?

  Tend to focus on the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives'black and white thinking
• What is negative self-schema?

  If a person has a negative schema they interpret all information about themselves in a negative light
• What leads to a negative schema?

  • Usually acquired in childhood and adolescence
  • Childhood events - loss of a parent, rejection by peers, criticism by parents, teachers - may lead to negative self-schema
• What is the negative triad?

  Dysfunctional view of themselves because of three types of negative thinking regardless of the reality of what is happening; Negative views of the self, Negative view of the future, Negative view of the world

  
• Who proposed the ABC model of explaining depression?

  Ellis
• What did Ellis say depression is as a result of?


  Irrational thoughts
• How does Ellis define irrational thoughts?

  Thoughts that interfere with us being happy and free from pain
• What does Ellis use the ABC model to do?


  Explain how irrational thoughts affect our behaviour and emotional state
• 3 parts of Ellis's ABC model

  • Activating events
  • Beliefs
  • Consequences
• What are activating events? (ABC Model)

  • Irrational thoughts are triggered by external events
  • We get depressed when we experience negative events and these trigger irrational beliefs
• What are beliefs? (ABC Model)

  • He called the belief that we must always succeed 'musturbation ''I-can't-stand-it-itis ' is the belief that it is a major disaster when something doesn't go smoothly
  • Utopianism is the belief life is always meant to be fair
• What are consequences? (ABC Model)

  • When an activating event triggers irrational beliefs there are emotional and behavioural consequences
  • If a person believes they must always succeed and then fails at something, this can cause depression
• ABC model order?

  • Activating event triggers Beliefs that are irrational
  • This produces Consequences, such as an emotional response
• Strengths of Becks cognitive explanation of depression

  Supporting evidenceApplications in screening for depression
• Why is "Supporting evidence" a strength of Beck's cognitive explanation of depression?

  Cognitive vulnerability - ways of thinking that may predispose a person to depression - faulty information processing, negative self-schema and the cognitive triadClark and Beck (1999) these cognitive vulnerabilities more common and preceded depressionCohen et al (2019) - tracked 473 adolescence, regularly measuring cognitive vulnerability They found showing cognitive vulnerability reliably predicted later depressionShows that there is an association between cognitive vulnerability and depression, supporting the cognitive explanation
• Why is "Applications in screening for depression" a strength of Beck's cognitive explanation of depression?

  Cohen et al - assessing cognitive vulnerability allows psychologists to screen young people, identifying those most at risk of developing depression in the future and monitoringUnderstanding cognitive vulnerability can also be applied to cogitative behavioural therapy these therapies work by altering the kind of cognitions that make people vulnerable to depression, making them more resilient to negative life eventsThis means that an understanding of cognitive vulnerability is useful in more than one aspect of clinical practice
• Strength of Ellis' ABC Model

  Real-world application to the psychological treatment of depression
• Why is "Real-world application to the psychological treatment of depression" strength of Ellis' ABC model?

  • Ellis's cognitive therapy, rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT), aims to alter irrational beliefs in depressed individuals through vigorous argumentation.
  • David et al 2018 - Evidence supports the idea that REBT can both change negative beliefs and relieve the symptoms of depression
  • This means that REBT has real-world value and is therefore a strength of the cognitive explanation as it shows that targeting cognition can lead to a reduction in the symptoms of depression.
• Limitation of Ellis' ABC Model

  Only explains reactive depression not endogenous depression
• Why is "Only explains reactive depression not endogenous depression" limitation of Ellis' ABC model?

  • There seems to be no doubt depression is often triggered by life events - called reactive depression
  • How we respond to negative life events also seem to be at least partly as a result of our beliefs
  • However many cases of depression are not traceable to life events - called endogenous depression.
  • Ellis's ABC model is less useful for explaining endogenous depression
  • Ellis's model can only explain some cases of depression and therefore is only a partial explanation