Cognitive treatment to depression

• Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)-

  Cognitive element to clarify the client's problem, identify goals and how to achieve them. Behavioural element to work to change negative irrational thoughts and putting effective behaviours in place.
• Becks cognitive therapy-

  • Identify then challenging the negative triad.
  • Seeing the reality of their negative beliefs by recording when they go to an event or someone compliments them.
  • ‘Client becomes the scientist’ due to them identifying and investigating their negative beliefs.
  • Allowing cognitive reconstruction by replacing the negatives with the reality of positives.
  • If they say nothing positive, then the therapist can say they are incorrect.
• Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)-

  • ABCDE model (D-dispute E-effect), identify dispute then challenge thoughts.
  • E.g- client claims that life is unfair then the therapist would argue using Utopianism (life is always meant to be fair) to break the links between negative life events and depression.
  • Empirical argument- disputing when there’s evidence supporting the negative belief.
  • Logical argument- disputing whether the negative though logically follows from the facts.
• Behavioural activation –

  • Depressed people tend to avoid difficult situations.
  • Work together to gradually decrease the isolation and increase engagement in activities that have been proven to increase moods (exercise, dinner out).
• • S- March et al (2007) tested 327 depressed adolescents with treatment, drugs, mixture. After 36 weeks 81% of the CBT and the drugs and 86% of the mixture improved – so effective alone but more so when paired with antidepressants.
  • W- High rates of relapse (Shehzad 2017) assessed 439 depression clients very month for a year after CBT – 42% relapsed within 6 months and 53% within a year.
• • CPS- Lewis and Lewis (2016) CBT were as effective as antidepressants and effective for people with learning disabilities and sever depression when used appropriately.
  • CPW- Lack of effectiveness for people with learning disabilities and sever depression (severely depressed people don’t want to get better so won't try to if in CBT, Sturmey (2005) suggests that any form of psychotherapy isn’t suitable for someone with learning disabilities).
• • CPS- Focuses on changing the negative thinking and behaviour,  with appropriate clients its highly effective in the short term with helping the symptoms. 
  • CPW- Not all clients can be tackled this way as some just want the symptoms of depression gone and prefer medication.