Psych

• Support for the role of Irrational thinking

  • The view that depression is linked to irrational thinking is supported by research
  • Hammen and Krantz 1977 found depressed participants made more errors in logic when asked to interpret written material than did non-depressed participants
  • Bates et al. (1999) found that depressed participants who were given negative automatic thought statements became more and more depressed
• Negative thinking


  Leads to depression
• The link between negative thinking and depression does not mean that negative thoughts cause depression. Instead, negative thinking may develop because of their depression
• Cognitive approach


  Suggests that it is the client who is responsible for their disorder
• The cognitive approach gives the client the power to change the way they think, rather than blaming situational factors
• The strength of the cognitive approach lies in its focus on the client's mind and recovery, but other aspects of the client's environment and life may also need to be considered
• Practical applications in therapy

  • The usefulness of CBT therapy supports the effectiveness of the cognitive approach
  • If depression is affected by challenging irrational thinking then this suggests such thoughts had a role in the depression in the first place
• Not all irrational beliefs are irrational, they may simply be realistic from the client's point of view
• The biological approach to understanding mental disorder suggests that genes and biology may play a role in depression, providing an alternative explanation to the cognitive approach