Depression Flashcards
(37 cards)
What are the main symptoms of depression?
- low mood
- difficulty concentrating
- irrational negative beliefs
- loss of pleasure
- change in appetite
- change in sleep pattern
- social withdrawal
Which symptoms are emotional?
- low mood
- loss of pleasure
Which symptoms are cognitive?
- irrational negative beliefs
- difficulty concentrating
Which symptoms are behavioural?
- social withdrawal
- change in appetite
- change in sleep patterns
To be diagnosed with depression, a person must experience…
- at least one emotional symptom
- at least five symptoms of depression
- more than two weeks of symptoms
What’s manic depression?
- when a person cycles between depressive episodes and manic episodes
- a manic episode is a period of high mood which lasts for at least one week
- a depressive episode is a period of low mood which lasts for at least one week
what are the two types of depression?
- manic depression
- major depression
Cognitive explanations of depression - Ellis’ ABC Model
- ellis believed depression resulted from irrational thoughts and blaming external events for unhappiness
- activating event, belief, consequence
what’s the activating event?
an external event, usually of negative nature
what’s the belief?
you hold a belief about the event, usually irrational
what’s the consequence?
an emotional response to your belief
weakness of ABC model - partial explanation
- some forms of depression don’t have an activating event
- Ellis’ explanation only applies to some types of depression
- therefore, it’s only a partial explanation
strength of ABC model - practical application in CBT
- has led to successful therapy
- by challenging irrational negative beliefs, depression can be reduced
weakness of ABC model - doesn’t explain all aspects of depression
doesn’t explain the anger associated with depression
weakness of ABC model - Wender et al (1986)
- found that adopted children who develop depression were more likely to have a depressed biological parent, even though they’re raised in a different environment
- implies that biological factors are more important than cognitive ones
what’s Beck’s cognitive theory of depression?
- faulty information processing
- negative self-schemas
- the negative triad
what’s faulty information processing/cognitive bias?
- when depressed, you tend to focus on the negative and ignore the positive
- you also tend to think in ‘black and white’ terms
- arbitrary inference, selective abstraction, overgeneralisation, magnification and minimisation
what’s arbitrary inference?
conclusions drawn in the absence of sufficient evidence
what’s selective abstraction?
conclusions drawn from just one part of a situation
what’s overgeneralisation?
coming to conclusions drawn on the basis of a single event
what’s magnification and minimisation?
exaggerations in evaluation of performance
what are negative self-schemas?
- a schema is a mental package of ideas and information developed through experience
- act as a mental framework
- a self-schema is the package we have about ourselves
- we interpret ourselves in a negative way
- negative cognitive bias strengthens negative schemas
what’s the negative triad?
- negative view of the self (low self-esteem, feeling worthless)
- negative view of the world (obstacles in the environment, no hope)
- negative view of the future (no way to improve)
strength of Beck’s theory - supporting evidence
Boury et al (2001)
- monitored students’ negative thoughts with the Beck depression inventory (BDI)
- found depressives misinterpret facts and experiences in a negative way and feel hopeless about the future
- however, this sample is limited so therefore can’t be generalised
