Beck took a cognitive approach to explain why some people are more vulnerable to depression.
Faulty Information Processing
When depressed, people attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore positives. People tend to blow small problems out of proportion and think in black and white.
Negative self schema
Self schema is the package of information people have on themselves. If it’s negative they interpret all information about themselves in a negative way.
The negative triad
Beck suggested that a person develops a dysfunctional view of themselves because of three types of negativethinking that occur automatically, regardless of the reality that is happening at the time.
The negative triad
The negative triad include:
a negative view of the world - ‘the world is a cold, hard place'- gives the impression that there’s no hope.
negative view of the future - ‘no chance the economy gets better'- this reduces hopefulness and enhances depression.
negative view of self - 'I'm a failure' - enhances existing feelings of depression; they confirm the existing emotions of low self esteem.
