cognitive explanations - depression

• 2 ways of explaining depression

  • becks cognitive theory
  • ellis's ABC model
• becks cognitive theory

  • suggested cognitive approach to explaining why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others
  • in particular due to persons cognitions (the way they think) - creates the vulnerability
• 3 parts of cognitive vulnerability - becks theory

  • faulty information processing
  • negative self schemas
  • negative triad
• faulty information processing - becks cognitive theory

  • when depressed we tend to take care of negative aspects of situation - ignoring positives
  • tend to blow small problems out of proportion + think in black and white terms
• negative self schemas - becks cognitive theory

  • schema is package of ideas + info developed through experience
  • schemas act as mental framework for understanding of sensory info
  • self schema is package of info that we have about ourselves - individuals with depression tend to have negative self schemas (think negatively about self)
• negative triad - becks cognitive theory

  • person develops dysfunctional view of self because of 3 types of negative thinking (self/world/future)
  • occurs automatically regardless of whats happening at time - 3 elements for negative triad
• ellis's ABC model

  • suggests good mental health is result of rational thinking (thinking in ways which allow people to be happy and free from pain)
• ellis's ABC model explains how irrational thoughts affect our behaviour and emotional state
• ABC MODEL - ellis

  • A - activating event - negative events trigger irrational beliefs
  • B - beliefs - event causes someone to have beliefs
  • C - consequences - irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotions such as depression - if you believe you must always succeed and then fail at something - this can trigger depression
• evaluation points for cognitive explanations for depression

  • application to CBT (+)
  • doesnt explain all aspects of depression (-)
  • supporting evidence - beck (+)
  • not full explanation - ellis (-)
• application to CBT (+)

  • strength for both beck and ellis's theory is that they have practical real life application
  • theories have led to development of therapies for treating depression such as CBT and REBT
  • theories work to challenge irrational beliefs to reduce depression
  • research to support that irrational thinking does play role in depression
• doesnt explain all aspects of depression (-)

  • limitation of both ellis and becks explanations for depression is that they cannot explain complex aspects of depression
  • example - theories cant explain extreme anger, hallucinations and bizarre beliefs that some depressed individuals suffer from
  • important that all explanations and theories can explain different symptoms depressed individuals go through
  • therefore, both explanations can be seen as incomplete and unable to successfully explain depression
• supporting evidence - beck (+)

  • there is research supporting idea that depression is associated with faulty information processing, negative schemas and negative triad
  • example - researcher found women more cognitively vulnerable when assessed before and after birth - more likely to suffer postnatal depression
  • clark and beck conducted review of research into depression - concluded there is solid support for all cognitive vulnerability factors
  • research analysis shows cognitive factors exist before individual develops depression - suggests persons cognitions play role in causing depression
• not full explanation - ellis (-)

  • ellis's theory of depression is only particular to explaining depression
  • some cases of depression follow activating event (what ellis suggested) - known as reactive depression
  • reactive depression is seen as different to depression that arises without obvious cause
  • ellis's theory is limited as it only explains reactive depression
  • therefore, theory is limited as it cant fully explain all types of depression