Depression

• what are the three key aspects of becks negative triad?

  1. negative views about oneself
  2. negative views about the world
  3. negative views about the future
• what is cognitive bias?

  • depressed people are more likely to focus on the negative aspects of a situation while ignoring the positives
• what is over-generalisation in relation to cognitive bias?

  • where they make a sweeping conclusion based on a single incident e.g. I've failed one exams, I'm going to fail all my exams
• what is catastrophising in relation to cognitive bias?

  • exaggerate a minor setback and believe that it's a complete disaster e.g. I've failed one test and therefore I am never going to study at university
• what are negative self-schemas?

  • knowledge which stores information about our self and the world around us
  • developed during childhood
  • may come from negative experiences
• what is a self-blame schema?

  • makes them feel responsible for any misfortunes
• what is a self-evaluation schema?

  • constantly reminds them of their worthlessness
• what are the three stages of ellis' ABC model?

  1. activating event
  2. beliefs: interpretation of the event which could either be rational or irrational
  3. consequences: irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotional outcomes
• strength of cognitive approach to explaining depression (1)

  • application to therapy: Cognitive explanations have been used to develop effective treatments for depression, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) which was developed from Ellis’s ABC model. These therapies attempt to identify and challenge negative, irrational thoughts and have been successfully used to treat people with depression, providing further support to the cognitive explanation of depression.
• strengths of cognitive approach to explaining depression (2)

  • research evidence which supports: Boury et al. (2001) found that patients with depression were more likely to misinterpret information negatively (cognitive bias) and feel hopeless about their future (cognitive triad). Further to this, Bates et al. (1999) gave depressed patients negative automatic though statements to read and found that their symptoms became worse. These findings support different components of Beck’s theory and the idea that negative thinking is involved in depression.
• limitations of cognitive explanations to explaining depression (1)

  • does not explain the origin of irrational thoughts. Since most of the research in this area is correlational, psychologists are unable to determine if negative, irrational thoughts cause depression, or whether a person’s depression leads to a negative mindset. Consequently, it is possible that other factors, for example genes and neurotransmitters, are the cause of depression and the negative, irrational thoughts are the symptom of depression.
• limitations of cognitive explanations to explaining depression (2)

  • There are alternative explanations which suggest that depression is a biological condition, caused by genes and neurotransmitters. Research found lower levels of serotonin in patients with depression. In addition, drug therapies, including SSRIs, which increase the level of serotonin, are found to be effective in the treatment of depression, which provide further support for the role of neurotransmitters in the development of depression. This therefore casts doubt on the cognitive explanation as a sole cause of the disorder.
• what is the aim of CBT?

  • identify and replace negative thoughts
  • encourages patients to test their beliefs through behavioural experiments and homework
• describe beck's cognitive behavioural therapy

  • help patient identify negative thoughts using beck's negative triad
  • patient and therapist will then work together to challenge these irrational thoughts by discussing evidence for and against them
  • patient will be encourage to test the validity of their negative thoughts and may be set homework to test negative thoughts in a process known as reality testing
• describe ellis' rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)

  • developed ABC model to include D (dispute) and E (effective)
  • therapist dispute the patient's irrational beliefs, to replace their irrational beliefs with more effective beliefs and attitudes
  • different types of dispute
  • logical dispute - therapist questions the logic of a person's thoughts
  • empirical dispute - therapist seeks evidence for a person's thoughts
• strength of cognitive approach to treating depression (1)

  • research evidence which demonstrates its effectiveness in treating depression. Research by March et al. (2007) found that CBT was as effective as antidepressants in treating depression. After 36 weeks, 81% of the antidepressant group and 81% of the CBT group had significantly improved, demonstrating the effectiveness of CBT in treating depression. However, 86% of the CBT with antidepressant group had significantly improved. This suggests that a combination of both treatments may be more effective.
• strengths of cognitive approach to treating depression (2)

  • The cognitive approach for depression considers both nature and nurture, since maladaptive thinking, according to Beck, is automatic (nature) but can be modified by experience such as undertaking CBT (nurture). Soft determinism is therefore advocated where behaviour is regulated by mediational processes and an individual can dispute their irrational thoughts, with practice.
• limitations of cognitive approach to treating depression (1)

  • CBT has been criticised for its overemphasis on the role of cognitions as the primary cause of depression. Doesn't take into account other factors such as social circumstances which might contribute to a person’s depression. For example, a patient who is suffering from domestic violence or abuse does not need to change their negative/irrational beliefs, but in fact needs to change their circumstances. Therefore, CBT would be ineffective in treating these patients until their circumstances have changed.
• limitations of cognitive approach to treating depression (2)

  • requires motivation: Patients with severe depression may not engage with CBT or even attend the sessions and therefore this treatment will be ineffective in treating thesevpatients. Alternative treatments, such as antidepressants, do not require the same level of motivation and may be more effective in these cases. This poses a problem for CBT, as CBT usually cannot be used as the sole treatment for severely depressed patients, who often lack the motivation to attend therapy and to speak about their depression.
• limitations of cognitive approach to treating depression (3)

  • The cognitive approach can be considered fairly scientific due to the methods used for investigation; however, researchers are unable to directly observe the thinking processes involved for a depressed patient.