AO1

•  The cognitive approach suggests that depression results from faulty cognition/faulty information processing/negative thinking about events (so disturbances in thinking).
• cognitive explanation for depression:

  • Beck’s negative triad
  •  Ellis’ ABC model.
• Beck’s negative triad states that events are seen by the sufferer with a pessimistic/negative bias due to the development of negative schemas about the world, the self, and the future. This can lead to overgeneralisation, magnification of problems, selective perception , and absolutist thinking
• Ellis’ ABC model states that people respond in different ways to stresses and challenges in life. Ellis suggests that this difference depends on their beliefs, resulting in different consequences for different people.
• Ellis’ ABC model:

  • The activating event (A) is the external situation that there will be a reaction to.
  • The belief (B) is why the individual thinks that the activating event happened (rational or irrational).
  • The consequence (C) is the behaviour and emotions caused by the person’s beliefs about the activating event