Beck’s Negative Triad

Question 1

What is Beck’s Negative Triad?

Answer 1

The idea that depression stems from individuals being biased to think negatively and therefore becoming trapped in an automatic cycle of negative thoughts which maintain and/or worsen symptoms

Question 2

What are the 3 elements to Beck’s Negative Triad?

Answer 2

• Negative thoughts about the self
• Negative thoughts about the future
• Negative thoughts about the world

Question 3

What is cognitive vulnerability?

Answer 3

The idea that individuals who possess negative ways of thinking are more susceptible to depression

Question 4

What are cognitive biases?

Answer 4

Negative ways of thinking that make an individual more susceptible to depression

Question 5

What are 3 cognitive biases Beck identified?

Answer 5

• Absolutist Thinking, or a black-and-white worldview
• Overgeneralising, or selectively focusing on the negative aspects of a situation
• Catastrophising, or perceiving all unfortunate situations as disasters

Question 6

When and how did Beck state cognitive vunerability developed?

Answer 6

• In childhood
• It is a result of negative schemas, which form a negative mental framework that develops into cognitive biases in adulthood

Question 7

What is faulty information processing?

Answer 7

Fundamental errors in cognitive processing that leads an individual to selectively focus on the negative aspects of a situation

Question 8

What is the practical application of Beck’s Negative Triad?

Answer 8

CBT, or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Question 9

What study supports the idea that those high in cognitive vulnerability are more likely to develop depression?

Answer 9

• Grazioli & 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 develop postnatal depression

Question 10

Which study supports Beck’s Negative Triad?

Answer 10

Boury et al, who found that individuals with depression were more likely to feel hopeless about the future and interpret information negatively

Question 11

What 2 cognitive aspects of depression does Beck’s Negative Triad not explain?

Answer 11

• Anger and aggression
• Hallucinations or delusions, such as Cotard’s Syndrome

Question 12

Why could Beck’s Negative Triad be considered reductionistic?

Answer 12

It reduces depression to merely cognitions, disregarding aspects such as biology or environmental factors