Faulty information processing

• this is when depressed people attend to the negative aspects of their situation and ignore the positive aspects
• The depressed person will blow small problems out of proportion
• These cognitive biases cause the depressed person to constantly see themselves as worthless and useless
• for example, if i was depressed and won £1 million in the lottery, i might focus on how someone else won £10 million instead of focusing on all the good things that i could do with £1 million
• depressed people may tend towards 'black and white thinking' where something is either all good or all bad
• Depressed people are prone to distorting and misinterpreting information, a process known as cognitive bias
• Beck detailed numerous cognitive biases, two of which include: over-generalisations and catastrophising
• a depressed person may experience catastrophising, where they exaggerate a minor setback and believe that it’s a complete disaster
• Overgeneralization is a type of cognitive distortion where a person assumes an experience from one event will apply to other events
• The three stages:

  • activating event
  • belief
  • consequence
• Consequence- when an activating event triggers irrational beliefs there are emotional and behavioural consequences.