Cognitive approach explaining depression Flashcards
Cognitive approach
focused on mental processes affecting our behaviour
Negative triad
Beck proposed that bthre are three kinds of negative thinking that contribute to become depressed: negative views of the world, the future and the self
- lead to a person to interpret their experienced in a negative way and so make them more vulnerable to depression
ABC model
Ellis proposed that depression occurs when and activating event (A) triggers an irrational belief (B) which in turn produces a consequence (C)
Becks’ negative triad
- Faulty information processing
- Negative self-schemas
- The negative triad
Faulty information processing
attending to the negative aspects of a situation and ignoring the positives
also tend to blow small problems out of proportion and think in black and white terms
Negative self-schema
- a schema is a ‘package’ of ideas and information developed through experience act as a mental framework for the interpretation of sensory information.
- A self-schema is the package of information we have about ourselves.
- We use schemas to interpret the world, so if we have a negative self-schema we interpret all information about ourselves in a negative way.
The negative triad - types
negative views of the world
negative view of the future
negative view of the self
Ellis’s ABC model
- proposed that good mental health is the result of rational thinking defined as thinking in ways that allow people to be happy and free of pain
- use the ABC model to explain how irrational thoughts affect our behaviour and emotional state
Activating event - negative events trigger irrational beliefs
Beliefs - irrational beliefs such as need for perfection, success, fairness
Consequences - emotional and behavioural consequences of irrational beliefs
What are the two types of irrational thoughts ?
- perfection (masturbation)
- utopianism
Strength of the cognitive approach to explaining depression - Beck
P: A strength of Beck’s cognitive theory of depression is that it has practical applications.
E: The theory has had led to the development of CBT which challenges irrational theory and Lipsky et al. found that it reduced depression.
E: This supports the theory because it supports that irrational thoughts are a cause of depression as depression would not reduce with CBT if they were not involved.
L: Therefore, this is a strength of Beck’s cognitive theory as successful treatments could not have been developed based on an incorrect theory, this gives us confidence in the reliability of Beck’s cognitive theory of depression.
Limitation of the cognitive approach to explaining depression - Beck
P: A weakness of Beck’s cognitive theory of depression is that it does not explain all aspects of depression.
E: The theory neatly explains basic symptoms, however, some depressed patients are deeply angry or experience hallucination which is not explained by the theory. For example, cotard syndrome has delusions are zombies which cannot be explained by Beck’s theory.
E: This suggests that Beck’s theory does not explain all aspects of depression.
L: Therefore, Beck’s cognitive theory of depression is a limited explanation.
Strength of the cognitive approach to explaining depression- Ellis
strength: real world application
- his approach to cognitive therapy- rational emotive behaviour therapy
- vigoursly arguing with a depressed persom the therapist alter irrational beliefs
REBT can change negative beliefs and relieve symptoms
Limitation of the cognitive approach to explaining depression- Ellis
limitation: only explains reactive depression and not endogenous depression
it doesn’t easily explain the anger associated with depression or the fact that some patients suffer hallucinations and delusions
