depression

• Depression

  A mental disorder characterised by low mood and low energy levels
• DSM-5 categories of depression

  • Major depressive disorder- severe by often short- term depression
  • Persistent depressive disorder- long term or recurring depression, including sustained major depression and what used to be called dysthymia
  • Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder- childhood temper tantrums
  • Premenstrual dysphoric disorder- disruption to mood prior to and/ or during menstruation
• Behavioural characteristics of depression

  • Changes when we experience an episode of depression
  • Reduced activity levels, leading to withdrawal from work, education and social life
  • Psychomotor agitation, causing inability to relax and pacing
  • Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour, including insomnia, premature waking, hypersomnia, and disrupted eating patterns
  • Aggression and self harm, including irritability, verbal/physical aggression, and self-directed aggression like cutting or suicide attempts
• Emotional Characteristics of Depression

  • Lowered mood, feeling of worthlessness and emptiness
  • Anger, both directed at self and others, leading to aggressive or self-harming behaviour
  • Lowered self-esteem, with some people describing a sense of self-loathing
• Cognitive Characteristics of Depression

  • Poor concentration and decision making
  • Attending to and dwelling on the negatives, ignoring positives, and recalling unhappy events
  • Absolutist 'black and white' thinking, seeing situations as all good or all bad
• Beck's Negative Triad


  A cognitive approach to explaining vulnerability to depression, consisting of:

  1. Faulty information processing - attending to negatives and ignoring positives

  2. Negative self-schema - interpreting information about self in a negative way

  3. Negative views of the world, the future, and the self - creating hopelessness and enhancing depression
• Ellis's ABC Model

  (A) Activating event - situations/external events that trigger irrational thoughts

  (B) Beliefs - the belief that it is a major disaster whenever something does not go smoothly

  (C) Consequences - emotional and behavioural consequences when irrational beliefs are triggered
• Beck's negative triad


  • Negative view of the world
  • Negative view of the future
  • Negative view of self
• Negative view of the world


  • The world is a cold hard place. Creates the impression that there is no hope anywhere
• Negative view of the future


  • Thinking the economy isn't going to get better. Thoughts reduce any hopelessness and enhance depression
• Negative view of self

  • Thinking you are a failure. These thoughts enhance any existing depressive feelings as they confirm existing emotions of low self-esteem
• Beck's model

  • Has research support (the triad shows that cognitive vulnerabilities were more common in depressed people. It was confirmed by Cohen et al. in a recent prospective study tracking adolescents. Their findings showed cognitive vulnerability, which later predicted depression)
  • Can be applied to screening and treatment for depression (Cohen et al. concluded that assessing cognitive vulnerability allows psychologists to screen young people, identifying who is more at risk of developing depression. Can also be applied to CBT as therapists can work to alter clients cognitions making them more resilient to depression)
• Ellis's ABC Model


  • Suggests that good mental health is the result of rational thinking (thinking in ways that allow people to be happy and free from pain)
  • Suggested that conditions like depression and anxiety were the results of irrational thinking
• Irrational thoughts


  Not illogical or unrealistic but instead thoughts that interfere with us being happy and free from pain
• Ellis's approach

  • Rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT). The idea that by vigorously arguing with a depressed person, the therapist can alter the irrational beliefs. There are different types of arguments identified by Ellis;
  • Empirical arguments: Disputing if there is real evidence to support the irrational belief
  • Logical arguments: Disputing if negative effect follows logically from the facts