cognitive approach to explaining depression

• Cognitive approach ?

  The term 'cognitive' has come to mean 'mental processes, so this approach is focused on how our mental processes (e g. thoughts, perceptions, attention) affect behaviour
• Negative triad ?

  Beck proposed that there are three kinds of negative thinking that contribute to becoming depressed: negative views of the world, the future and the self. Such negative views lead a person to interpret their experiences in a negative way and so make them more vulnerable to depression.
• ABC model?

  Ellis proposed that depression occurs when an activating event (A) triggers an irrational belief (B) which in turn produces a consequence (C), i.e. an emotional response like depression. The key to this process is the irrational belief.
• One strength of becks cognitive model of depression ?

  P - existence of supporting research.

  E - 'Cognitive vulnerability' refers to ways of thinking that may predispose a person to becoming depressed, for example faulty information processing, negative self-schema and the cognitive triad. In a review Clark and Beck (1999) concluded that not only were these cognitive vulnerabilities more common in depressed people but they preceded the depression. This was confirmed in a more recent prospective study by Lonen et al. (2019). tracked the development of 473 adolescents, regularly measuring cognitive vulnerability. It was found that showing cognitive vulnerability predicted later depression.

  L - there is an association between cognitive vulnerability and depression.
• A further strength of Beck's cognitive model of depression ?

  P - applications in screening and treatment for depression.

  E - Cohen et al. concluded that assessing cognitive vulnerability allows psychologists to screen young people identifying those most at risk of developing depression in the future and monitoring them. Understanding cognitive vulnerability can also be applied in cognitive behaviour therapy. work by altering the kind of cognitions that make people vulnerable to depression, making them more resilient to negative life events.

  L - an understanding of cognitive vulnerability is useful in more than one aspect of clinical practice.
• One strength of Ellis's ABC model?

  P - real-world application in the psychological treatment of depression.

  E - Ellis's approach to cognitive therapy is called rational emotive behaviour therapy. 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. There is some evidence to support the idea that REBT can both change negative beliefs and relieve the symptoms of depression (David et al. 2018).

  L - REBT has real-world value.
• One limitation of Ellis's ABC model of depression ?

  P - only explains reactive depression and not endogenous depression.

  E - There seems to be no doubt that depression is often triggered by life events - what Ellis would call 'activating events. Such cases are sometimes called reactive depression. How we respond to negative life events also seems to be at least partly the result of our beliefs. However, many cases of depression are not traceable to life events and it is not obvious what leads the person to become depressed at a particular time. This type of depression is sometimes called endogenous depression. Ellis's ABC model is less useful for explaining endogenous depression.

  L - Elli's model can only explain some cases of depression and is therefore only a partial explanation.
• Ellis's ABC model?

  Ellis (1962) proposed that good mental health is the result of rational thinking, defined as thinking in ways that allow people to be happy and free from pain. Ellis defined irrational thoughts, not as illogical or unrealistic thoughts, but as any thoughts that interfere with us being happy and free from pain. used the ABC model to explain how irrational thoughts affect our behaviour and emotional state.

  A Activating event- situations in which irrational thoughts are triggered by external events.

  B Beliefs- identified a range of irrational beliefs. called the belief that we must always succeed or achieve perfection 'musturbation'. I-can't-stand-it-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.

  C Consequences - When an activating event triggers irrational beliefs there are emotional and behavioural consequences.
• Faulty information processing?

  when depressed people attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore positives. Depressed people may tend towards black and white thinking where something is either all bad or all good
• Negative self-schema?

  A schema is a 'package of ideas and information developed through experience. A self-schema is the package of information people have about themselves. People use schema to interpret the world, so if a person has a negative self-schema they interpret all information about themselves in a negative way.
• The negative triad? explained better

  Beck suggested that a person develops a dysfunctional view of themselves because of three types of negative thinking that occur automatically, regardless of the reality of what is happening at the time. These three elements are called the negative triad. When a person is depressed, negative thoughts about the world, the future and oneself are uppermost.

  1. Negative view of the world - an example would be the world is a cold hard place. This creates the impression that there is no hope anywhere.
  2. Negative view of the future - an example would be there isn't much chance that the economy will really get better. Such thoughts reduce any hopefulness and enhance depression.
  3. Negative view of the self - for example, thinking 1 am a failure. Such thoughts enhance any existing depressive feelings because they confirm the existing emotions of low self-esteem.