Beck

• Becks Negative Triad (1967)


  Aaron Beck's theory that depression is caused by negative thinking, especially about oneself, and that negative thinking comes before the development of depression
• Negative cognitive triad


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

  • Three components of depression according to Beck
  • Negative views interfere with normal cognitive processing, such as memory and problem-solving
  • Each component feeds into the other
• Negative view of the self


  Individuals see themselves as being helpless, worthless and inadequate
• Negative view of the self

  • 'I am unattractive, what is there to like in me?'
• Negative view of the world (life experiences)


  Obstacles are perceived within one's environment that cannot be dealt with
• Negative view of the world (life experiences)

  • 'I can understand why people do not like me, even my boyfriend left me.'
• Negative view of the future

  Personal worthlessness is seen as blocking any improvements
• Negative view of the future

  • 'I am always going to be on my own and nothing will change it'
• Negative schemas

  Depressed people develop negative schemas about themselves, which makes them think in this negative way
• Negative schemas


  • Develop in childhood and adolescence as a result of rejection by parents or friends in the form of criticism and exclusion, or perhaps by the loss of a close family member
  • Provide a negative framework to view life in a pessimistic fashion
• Cognitive biases


  Errors in thinking that people with negative schemas become prone to, such as over-generalisation
• Cognitive biases


  • Over-generalisation where people with depression make a sweeping conclusion on the basis of a single event (e.g. he did not smile at me so he must hate me)
• Negative schemas, together with cognitive biases maintain the negative triad