explanations depression

• one explanation of depression is the cognitive explanation which states that depression is caused by faulty thinking and negative/irrational thoughts
• beck explains depression by- faulty information processing, negative self schemas and the negative triad
• faulty information processing (becks explanation)= those with depression tend to ignore positives and focus on the negatives. e.g- absolutist thinking, catastrophising and personalisation
• negative self schema (becks explanation of depression)= negative beliefs about oneself, such as being worthless, people with depression often have negative self schemas
• becks negative triad= negative view of the world, negative view of self, negative view of future
• ABC model (ellis' explanation of depression)= A-activating event, which trigger B- irrational beliefs, which leads to C- consequences, emotional or behavioural
• limitation of ABC model-Full explanation- not all cases of depression have an activating event, ellis' CBT focuses on an activation event so won't be effective for all types of depression
• overgeneralisation (cognitive distortion) = taking one instance and applying it to everything else
• beck believed that some people were more vulnerable to depression than others - their cognitions create this vulnerability (faulty info processing, negative triad, negative schema)
• beck's explanation has real life applications - Cohen et al concluded that assessing cognitive vulnerability allows us to identify people most at risk of developing depression in future
• limitation of ellis' explanation of depression - only explains reactive depression (triggered by an event) but cannot explain endogenous depression (depression that develops for no particular reason) - means it is not a full explanation
• ellis' ABC model is socially insensitive - it places the responsibility on the depressed person (activating event) which could potentially worsen their condition
• According to Ellis, (A) Activating Events, refers to people becoming depressed when they experience negative events, (B) a range of irrational thoughts and (C) for 'consequences' when an event triggers irrational beliefs there are behavioural and emotional consequences