Evaluation of Cognitive Depression

• There is a wealth of research to support Beck's cognitive explanation
• Koster et al's study


  • Used student volunteers
  • Participants took part in an attention task
  • Presented with positive, negative and neutral words
  • Depressed participants spent longer attending to the negative words than the non-depressed group
• Depressed participants spending longer attending to negative words


  Supports the aspect of cognitive biases and that people with depression attend to negative aspects of their life rather than the positive
• Empirical support for Ellis therapy based on the ABC model contributes to the acceptance that irrational beliefs lead to depression
• These research studies suggest that there must be some cognitive influence on the development of depression
• It is difficult to determine the extent to which distorted cognitive pattern's cause depression
• Numerous studies have shown that depressed people do show more negative thinking than controls
• Evans' study


  • Used a questionnaire of pregnant women
  • Women with a high negative schema were subsequently 60% more likely to become depressed than those with a low negative schema
• There is not enough convincing evidence that such thinking comes before a depressive episode
• Negative thinking is a consequence of depression and that it might well serve to maintain the disorder rather than explain its origins
• Both Ellis' ABC model and Beck's cognitive explanation of depression has been very influential and has stimulated a huge amount of research into the disorder over the last few decades
• They have contributed greatly to our understanding of depression and to the rise of cognitive behavioural therapies, which have been very helpful in alleviating the symptoms of depression
• Beck reviewed the effectiveness of CBT and found it highly effective in treating depression especially unipolar depressive disorder
• Lipsky's research found that by challenging a person's irrational negative beliefs, depression can be reduced
• This evidence concerning the effectiveness of both Ellis' and Beck's forms of CBT can be taken as support for the theory it's based on
• It has been argued that the cognitive distortions of depressed people are not a cause but a symptom of the depression therefore other explanations are needed to fully understand the disorder
• Psychodynamic explanations could help to understand how early experiences have influenced the development of the irrational and faulty thinking characteristic of depression
• The role of low levels of serotonin in depressed people and the success of drug therapies for treating depression offer further strength to a biological explanation
• To fully understand depression a more holistic approach is needed