Cognitive explanations of depression Flashcards
(8 cards)
Assumption of the cognitive approach
The underlying assumption of the cognitive explanation of depression is that some people are more vulnerable to depression because of the way they think.
Beck’s explanation for depression
Beck (1967) believed that depressed people have acquired a negative schema (cognitive framework that helps us organise and interpret information and make sense of new information) during childhood and so have a tendency to adopt a pessimistic view of the world. This may be caused by a number of factors, including parental/peer rejection and criticism from teachers.
These negative schemas (e.g. expecting to fail) are activated whenever the person encounters a new situation (e.g. an exam) that resembles the original conditions in which the schema was learned. Negative schemas lead to cognitive biases in thinking. For example, overgeneralisations (e.g. ‘I am stupid’) on the basis of one small piece of negative feedback (e.g. failing one class test).
Beck’s negative triad
Negative schemas and cognitive biases maintain the negative triad. This is an irrational view of three elements in the person’s belief system.
The Self (‘There is nothing to like about me, I am boring’).
The World (‘Nobody likes me, everyone would prefer someone else’s company’).
The Future (‘I am always going to be on my own, nobody will ever love me’)
Advantages of Beck’s Negative Triad
+ There is a great deal of supporting evidence to suggest that negative and irrational thinking causes depression. Terry (2000) assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability before and after they gave birth. It was found that women who had a high cognitive vulnerability (they thought negatively) were more likely to suffer post-partum depression.
A strength of the cognitive approach is that it has become very influential within Psychology during the last 30 years, especially as the theory has been based on sound experimental research that is objective and permits testing. It seems that distorted and negative thoughts are very common amongst patients who have depression, and these negative thoughts play a key role in the development of the illness. (+).
Disadvantages of Beck’s Negative Triad
- Cause and effect is not always clear. Can we say that negative and irrational thoughts cause depression to develop; or could we say that depression develops first (from a different source e.g. genetics) and then this causes the patient to think in a negative and irrational way?
- The negative triad can be criticised, because it does not explain how some symptoms of depression might develop. Some depressed patients are very angry and Beck’s theory fails to account for this. Beck’s theory also does not explain the manic phases experienced by patients with Bipolar Disorder.
Ellis’ ABC Model
Ellis (1962) proposed that depression is caused by irrational beliefs. He devised the ABC model to explain how irrational and negative beliefs are formed.
A = Activating Event: An incident in someone’s life (e.g. getting fired from work).
B = Beliefs: The thoughts that occur after the activating event. These could be rational (e.g. ‘the company was overstaffed’) or irrational (e.g. ‘they have always hated me’).
C = Consequences: The emotions that are caused by these beliefs. Rational beliefs are likely to lead to healthy emotions (e.g. acceptance), whereas irrational beliefs are likely to lead to unhealthy emotions (e.g. depression).
Advantages of Ellis’ ABC Model
+ There is research to support the idea of the ABC model as a cause of depression. Bates (1999) found that depressed participants who were given negative thought statements became more and more depressed; supporting the view that negative thinking helps to cause depression.
The ABC model of depression is based on sound scientific evidence that permits objective testing. This allows improvement of the model and a greater understanding for the causes of depression as a whole. (+)
There is supporting evidence that people who develop depression in adulthood, tended to experience insecure attachments in childhood. Therefore there seems to be a link with insecure childhood attachments contributing to negative thinking which can cause depression in adulthood (+)
Disadvantages of Ellis’ ABC Model
- Although the ABC model gives the client some power to change the situation and improve their symptoms of depression; it blames the client for the depression.
A disadvantage of Ellis’s model is that we it is not clear whether negative thinking actually causes depression. It could be that depression occurs first (maybe through biology or genetics) and then this causes the person to think in a negative and irrational way. Cause and effect needs to be established when looking at causes of depression (-)
