Cognitive Explanations

• There are two cognitive explanations of depression, Beck's negative triad and Ellis's ABC model.
• Becks negative triad suggests that negative thoughts cause depression, not the other way around like Freud suggested. Cognition creates vulnerability
• Beck's negative triad has 3 components of cognitive vulnerability. Faulty information processing is when someone attends to negative aspects of a situation and blow things out of proportion. Negative self schema is having a negative view of ourselves and the world. The negative triad is made up of negative views about the world, the future and ourselves.
• Beck's negative triad is supported by Grazidi and Terry who assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability before and after birth. They found that those with high cognitive vulnerability were more likely to have postpartum depression. This supports Beck's negative triad as it shows that cognitive vulnerability, negative thoughts, is linked to depression.
• Cognitive distortions are generalised perceptions about everything. There are 6 main types of cognitive distortions. Selective abstractions is drawing conclusions based on 1 element of a situation. Minimisation is downplaying importance. Personalisation is believing everything is your fault. Arbitrary interference is concluding with little evidence. Magnification is blowing things out of importance. Overgeneralisation is making conclusions based on a single event.
• Ellis's ABC model suggests that mental health is due to thinking, good mental health is due to rational thinking and bad mental health is due to irrational thinking.
• Ellis's ABC model stands for activating event, beliefs and consequences. The activating event is something that triggers the irrational thoughts. Beliefs are the irrational thoughts that come from the activating event. Consequences come from the beliefs.
• Cognitive Explanations for Forgetting: Evaluation Points

  • Real world application to CBT
  • Doesn't explain anger when depressed
  • Doesn't explain other aspects
• Cognitive Explanations for Forgetting: Real world application

  Both cognitive explanations have good real life application as their models can be used in everyday life. Beck's model is supported by Cohen who said that assessing cognitive vulnerability helps to identify those who are at risk of later developing depression. Ellis's model has helped develop CBT and techniques to treat depression (REBT). This shows good real world application and increases their validity.
• Cognitive Explanations for Forgetting: Doesn't Explain Anger

  The cognitive explanations do not explain why people feel angry when they are depressed. Alternatively, this van be explained with a biological approach, such as genetics or nuerochemical influences. This means that the cognitive approach is reductionist and there may be other factors.
• Cognitive Explanations for Forgetting: Doesn't Explain Other Aspects

  The cognitive explanation does not explain all aspects of depression, such as irrational assumptions which could be a result of depression, rather than the cause. This means that the cause and effect cannot be established. It also does not explain manic phases in bipolar, such as hallucinations and delusions. This lack of clarity reduces the validity of the cognitive explanation approach and therefore further research needs to be conducted.
• There may be alternative explanations for depression, such as the biological approach and the diathesis stress model which suggests that someone with genetic vulnerability for depression are likely to be more effected by a negative environment.