The Cognitive Approach - EXPLAINING

• cognitive approach argues...

  - depression is due to irrational thoughts from maladaptive internal mental processes
• Beck's Negative Triad


  - the Self: feeling 'inadequate or unworthy'; the World: thinking people are 'hostile/threatening'; the Future: thinking 'things will turn out badly'

  - develops in childhood but provides framework for persistent biases in adulthood, leads to cognitive distortions
• Ellis's ABC Model


  - A: activating event; B: beliefs (with depression =irrational, without = rational); C: rational and irrational beliefs lead to positive or negative consequence respectively
• mustabatory thinking


  - a source of irrational beliefs where certain ideas or assumptions 'must' be true in order to be happy.
• A03 - Grazioli and Terry


  - assessed the thinking styles of 65 women before giving birth

  - found women with -ve thinking styles were most likely to develop postpartum depression (faulty thinking)
• A03 - irrationality

  - cognitive theories depend on the assumption that the depression thoughts are irrational

  - depression may be a reasonable response to challenges that they face
• A03 - March


  - showed CBT had an effectiveness rate of 81% after 36 weeks of treatment, the same as drug therapy

  - treatments are successful; suggests the underlying cognitive explanations they are based on are valid