Depression

• what is depression


  an affective mood disorder involving sadness/withdrawal
• how does the cognitive approach explain depression

  negative thoughts lead to negative emotions/behaviour
• what are the cognitive characteristics of depression

  -focus on negative

  -reduced concentration

  - poor memory
• what are the emotional characteristics of depression

  -depressed mood

  -loss of pleasure

  -worthlessness
• what are the behavioural characteristics of depression

  -loss of energy

  -poor hygiene

  -sleep disturbance
• what is the cognitive explanation for depression

  when our thoughts are negative and irrational it results in maladaptive (unhelpful) behaviours and emotions = depression
• what are the 2 main theories for the cognitive explanations

  Beck's cognitive vulnerability

  Ellis' ABC model
• what are Beck's 3 explanations for depression

  1. errors in logic

  2. negative self schema's

  3. cognitive triad
• what is meant by errors in logic

  focusing on the negative aspects of a situation and ignoring the equally relevant positive information
• what 3 examples of logical errors

  - magnification and minimisation = problems become bigger than they really are and solutions become smaller

  - personalisation = negative events are seen as their fault

  - negative automatic thought
• what is meant by a negative self schema

  having a set of beliefs and expectations about themselves that are negative, develop in childhood but activated by a stressful life event
• what is involved with the cognitive triad

  3 forms of negative thinking that are typical for people with depression, they interpret events as unrealistically negative, they feel worthless and have no hope their situation will improve

  
• how does Ellis' ABC model explain depression

  irrational thinking is a cause of depression, they interfere with being happy and free of pain
• what is mustabatory thinking


  they are assumptions that 'must' be true and are a cause of irrational thinking
• what are the different stages of the ABC model

  A = activating event - a trigger for thought

  B = belief about event - irrational thoughts about event

  C = consequences - emotions/behaviour
• what are 3 strengths for the cognitive approach to explaining depression

  + supporting evidence:

  depressed people have a tendency for maladaptive thoughts supports because negative thinking correlates with depression

  HOWEVER correlation may not be cause/effect relationship, as it was assessed in already depressed people

  + evidence from prospective studies:

  pregnant women with high levels of neg thinking are more likely to suffer post natal depression, supports neg thinking as a cause and more cause/effect relationship as assessed before becoming depressed

  + practical applications:

  CBT to treat negative thinking is highly successful, this could suggest a cause/effect relationship as CBT is effective

  HOWEVER aetiology fallacy, can work to reduce symptoms without affecting the cause
• what is a weakness of the cognitive explanation

  - the way symptoms can be assessed:

  questionnaires (BDI) are often used, social desirability bias - people may not be honest this lowers internal validity of data
• what is the aim of CBT

  to replace negative thoughts with realistic emotions
• what are the 2 main elements of CBT

  cognitive bit: identify and replace negative/irrational thoughts with realistic ones - examine evidence for and against

  behaviourist bit: encourage behaving in ways they may have avoided through tasks and challenges
• what are the 2 types of CBT

  cognitive therapy (CT) - Beck

  rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT) - Ellis
• what is the aim of CT

  to identify and replace automatic negative thoughts from cog triad through thought catching (cognitive) and reality testing to show thoughts are irrational (behaviourist)
• what are the stages of a dysfunctional thought diary

  1. write irrational thoughts and rate belief in them

  2. write a more rational alternative to the thought

  3. re-rate original irrational thought - it should be reduced
• what does REBT add to the ABC model

  Dispute the belief

  Effect (positive)
• what does REBT work on

  reframing and disputing irrational thoughts and mustabatory thinking
• what are the 2 ways of disputing irrational thoughts

  empirical argument = examining evidence for thought

  logical argument = whether the negative thoughts logically follow the facts
• what are the 2 strengths of CBT

  + research evidence

  16 large scale review studies that concluded CBT is highly effective, this supports as there is lots of evidence, so should be an option for treating depression

  HOWEVER evidence comes from trials with selective patients that have 'pure' depression with no other symptoms, so doesn't represent the average person with depression (e.g: + anxiety)

  + CT, REBT and drugs all had similar effectiveness (60% improved for each) so suggests each option should be given for people to choose as they have equal effectiveness

  ALSO at 6 months there was a higher relapse for the drug group than either therapy group, suggests CBT has more long term benefits so should be given over drugs
• what is a strength and a weakness of CBT over drugs

  + no real side effects

  more confidence in trying therapy, gives long lasting positive effects HOWEVER there are vast differences between the effectiveness of different therapies

  - people have to be highly motivated

  they need to want to change to get better, this is a problem for people with depression, so people often need drugs before starting therapy to become motivated