Characteristics of depression

• What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?

  -poor concentration

  -dwelling on the negative

  -absolutist thinking (situations are either all good or all bad)
• What are the emotional characteristics of depression?

  -lowered mood for a persistent amount of time

  -anger (at themselves or others)

  -lowered self-esteem (can lead to self-loathing)
• What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?

  -altered activity levels (usually lowered, but can involve agitation)

  -sleep/eating disruption (insomnia/hypersomnia)

  -aggression and self-harm (verbal hostility)
• What was Aaron Beck's cognitive theory of depression?

  People's way of thinking is a primary cause of depression.

  -faulty information processing

  -negative self-schemas

  -the negative triad
• What is the negative triad?

  A negative view of the world, the self and the future