Lesson 9: The Cognitive Approach To Explaining Depression

Question 1

What does the Cognitive Model propose?

Answer 1

• Individuals who are suffering from depression often have distorted and negative thinking
• People who think more negatively are more likely to develop depression

Question 2

Who made The Cognitive Triad and why do people become depressed?

Answer 2

• Beck (1960) believed that people become depressed because they have a negative outlook and develop negative schemas (constant pressure) which dominate their thinking
• Negative schemas are developed from childhood when parents have been overly critical towards them. These schemas continue into adulthood and provide a negative framework whereby life is viewed in a negative way, causing depressive thoughts
• Examples of negative schemas are self blame and ineptness

Question 3

What are the three stages in the Cognitive Triad?

Answer 3

• Negative thoughts about SELF: person feels worthless and helpless, and criticise themselves at every opportunity
• Negative thoughts about WORLD: negative thoughts extend to the wider world, the distorted thinking continues on a larger scale and becomes more global and negative ie. I am useless at everything I do
• Negative thoughts about FUTURE: the future seems bleak and negative, causing self esteem, can lead to suicidal thoughts

Question 4

Evaluation of Beck’s Cognitive approach (+)

Answer 4

• It is very influential as it is based on sound experimental research. This is objective and permits testing. It seems that negative and distorted thoughts are very common with depression patients
• There is a lot of supporting evidence suggesting depression is caused by negative and irrational thinking. Terry (2000) assessed pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability and depression before and after birth. Women with high cognitive vulnerability were more likely to suffer from post natal depression
• There have been attempts to combine the cognitive and behavioural approaches together to look at the causes of depression

Question 5

Evaluation of Beck’s Cognitive approach (-)

Answer 5

• Cause and effect is not clear, does irrational thinking cause depression or does depression cause irrational thinking?
• The behavioural approach would say depression is caused by learning instead of negative thinking
• It does not explain on symptoms of depression occur e.g hallucinations

Question 6

Who made the ABC model? And what did he propose?

Answer 6

• Ellis
• He proposed that depression is caused by irrational beliefs. He made the ABC model to explain how irrational and negative beliefs are formed

Question 7

What is the ABC model?

Answer 7

A = Activating Event: What made them upset? Patients record events leading to negative thoughts, and this is triggered by an event in their environment 
B = Beliefs: Patients record their thoughts associated with the event, they may record these thoughts in a diary etc.
C = Consequences: Patients record the emotional response to their beliefs. Irrational beliefs can lead to negative emotions. The consequences can be debated

Question 8

What is Mustabatory Thinking?

Answer 8

Mustabatory thinking can cause irrational and negative thinking that can be emotionally damaging and can lead to depression. These beliefs are too idealistic and expectations are too high.

Question 9

Evaluation of Ellis’s ABC Model (+)

Answer 9

• Bates (1999) found depressed patients who were given negative thought statements became more depressed. If psychologists know what causes depression, it can help provide effective treatments for curing depression
• It uses sound scientific evidence that permits objective testing. This allows improvement of the model and a better understanding for the causes of depression
• People who develop depression in adulthood tended to experience insecure attachments in childhood. There is a link.

Question 10

Evaluation of Ellis’s ABC Model (-)

Answer 10

• It is not clear whether negative thinking actually causes depression. It could be that depression occurs first (cause and effect)
• This model blames the client, situational factors that may have caused the depression are overlooked
• The biological approach would criticise the cognitive approach. The biological approach suggests that genes may cause depression. Shang (2005) found that there is a gene re,aged to depression making it 10x more likely to have depression.