Depression

• Behavioural characteristics of depression

  Activity levels = lethargy or agitation

  Disruption to sleep/eating = increased or decreased

  Aggression and self harm
• Emotional characteristics of depression

  Lowered mood

  Anger towards self and others

  Lowered self-esteem
• Cognitive characteristics of depression

  Poor concentration = difficulty making decisions

  Attending to and dwelling on the negative

  Absolutist thinking = black and white
• Cognitive explanation of depression - Beck’s triad

  Faulty information processing = attending to the negative aspects of a situation

  Negative self-schema = negative information about ourselves is accessed whenever we encounter a self-relevant situation

  Beck’s negative triad involved negative views of the world, self, and the future
• Beck’s triad evaluation

  +real world application, treatments such as CBT

  +research support hows cognitive vulnerability precedes depression

  -partial explanation, cannot easily explain extremes f anger or hallucinations
• Cognitive explanation for depression - Ellis ABC model

  Activating event = a negative life event that triggers an irrational response

  Beliefs = beliefs that lead us to overreact to the activating event

  Consequences = depression results when we overreact to negative life events
• Ellis’ ABC model evaluation

  +real world application, irrational thoughts can be challenged by a therapist

  -only explains reactive depression
• Treatment of depression - CBT

  Aims to identify negative thoughts (negative triad) and challenge them

  Ellis’ REBT aims to identify and challenge irrational beliefs

  Behavioural activation = encouraging the depressed person to engage in enjoyable activities
• CBT evaluation

  +CBT is proven to be effective

  -may not be suitable for severe depression

  -effects are only short-ter