Depression (cognitive)

• Depression is a mood effective disorder characterized by low mood, loss of interest, and low energy

  the symptoms are prolonged and damaging to everyday functioning
• behavioural symptoms of depression include

  • neglect of personal appearance
  • loss of appetite
  • disturbed sleep
  • isolation from others
• emotional symptoms of depression include

  • intense sadness
  • irritability
  • anger
  • anxiety
• cognitive symptoms of depression include

  • lack of concentration
  • low self esteem
  • negative thoughts
• the cognitive approach to explaining depression includes becks negative triad and Ellis‘ ABC model
• becks negative triad

  • made of 3 forms of negative thinking

  1. negative thoughts of oneself
  2. negative thoughts of ones future
  3. negative thoughts about the world
• becks negative triad is maintained by negative schemas:

  • Beck claims that negative schemas (mental frameworks built of expectations, stereotypes and experiences) can develop during childhood
  • possibly following trauma or negative experiences
  • these shape how the child views the world
  • and carry pessimistic and unhelpful views into adulthood
  • thus maintaining the negative triad and leading to depression
• Ellis‘ ABC model

  • claims that depression does not occur because of a life event
  • instead its the irrational thoughts that come after such event which can cause depression

  A - activating event e.g parent shouts at you

  B - belief e.g they do not love you and no one ever will (irrational)

  C - consequence e.g development of depression
• Cognitive explanations of depression: — depressive realism

  • the idea of depressive realism would argue that an individual is not having overly negative thoughts (beck) or irrational thoughts (Ellis)
  • and instead, their beliefs are just realistic for the situation they are in
  • the idea of depressive realism therefore undermines the cognitive explanations, which overlook the fact that people may have a pessimistic, but realistic outlook on their situation.
• Cognitive explanations for depression: - The explanations are reductionist

  • focus solely on cognitive processes in the development of depression
  • completely overlook any biological basis the disorder may have
  • such as the involvement of neurotransmitters or hormones
  • because of this, the cognitive explanations fail to explain the inheritence of depression from parents to children
  • this is a limitation as there are obviously other factors involved, that the cognitive explanation ignores
• Ellis ABC model: - The model doesn’t explain why depression follows the irrational thoughts (ACB)

  • it could be argued that depression occurs following the activating event
  • and that the depression goes onto cause the negative thoughts, which are a cognitive symptom of the disorder
  • this is a limitation as it makes the explanation less clear than it needs to be to provide a full picture on how depression develops and what is associated with it
• Cognitive explanations: +lead to the development of cognitive therapies

  • such as CBT
  • cognitive explanations to depression provide therapists with an understanding of hoe cognitive processes can cause the disorder
  • this means that therapies can be constructed to directly target, and change these cognitive processes
  • ultimately curing depression and improving the quality of life for patients
• Cognitive treatment of depression: CBT

  • aims to identify the irrational and negative thoughts that the cognitive explanations claim cause depression
  • with the intent of replacing these with positive thoughts
• becks cognitive therapy:

  • uses the negative triad to identify the negative thoughts about oneself, future and the world
  • then the therapist and client can work together to challenge these
  • they often use homework, like writing down positive experiences throughout the week, in order to provide evidence against the negative triad
  • ultimately changing the trio of negative thoughts to positive ones, motivating the client to get better
• Ellis’ REBT (rational emotive behaviour therapy)

  • aims to identify the irrational beliefs following an activating event
  • and challenge them through:
  • logical reasoning: questioning the reasoning of the irrational thoughts in roder to make the client re-think them
  • empirical evidence: questioning what evidence the client has to believe their beliefs are correct
  • clients may be set assignments to disprove their irrational thoughts e.g a client who believes their friends dont like them may be challenged to go and meet up with them
• CBT: - requires motivation and engagement

  • the therapy requires the client to be actively engages in the sessions
  • and have a desire to get better
  • this may be challenging for people with depression, who have a negative view of themselves as they may lack the belief that they can get better
  • therefore they may lack the motivation to even attend the sessions
  • possibly leading to an even lower mood and sense of shame
• CBT - disruptive and intrusive

  • the sessions require the client to schedule time out of their everyday life
  • they will also continue until theraputic goals are met
  • this may mean the client is taking part in CBT for many months
  • this could have negative implications on life, e.g missing work or school or time with family
• CBT: +applicable to a wide range of people

  • unlike alternative medications e.g drugs
  • CBT has no negative side effects or risks that make it dangerous for some clients
  • therefor it can be used with almost everyone suffering from depression