P: Cognitive approach to explaining depression Flashcards
(24 cards)
In terms of understanding abnormality, what are cognitive psychologists most concerned with?
- Concerned with how irrational thinking leads to a mental disorder.
- Since depression is very much characterised by negative irrational thinking, cognitive explanations are particularly appropriate.
What model does Ellis have (1962) ?
ABC model.
What did Ellis propose?
They key to mental disorders such as depression lay in irrational beliefs.
Ellis’ ABC model
What does ABC refer to?
A: refers to an activating event (e.g. you get fired at work.)
B: is the belief, which may be rational or irrational, ( e.g. ‘The company was overstaffed’, or ‘I was sacked because they’ve always had it in for me’.)
C: Is the consequence-rational beliefs lead to healthy emotions (e.g. acceptance) whereas irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotions (e.g. depression.)
Ellis’ ABC model
What does the A refer to?
Refers to an activating event (e.g. you get fired at work).
Ellis’ ABC model
What does the B refer to?
The belief, which may be rational or irrational. (e.g. ‘The company was overstaffed’ or ‘I was sacked because they’ve always had it in for me’)
Ellis’ ABC model
The source of irrational beliefs lies in what type of thinking?
Musturbatory thinking.
Ellis’ ABC model
What is musturbatory thinking?
Thinking that certain ideas or assumptions must be true in order for an individual to be happy.
Ellis’ ABC model- musturbatory thinking
What are the three most important irrational beliefs that Ellis identified?
- I must be approved of or accepted by people who I find important.
- I must do well or very well, or I am worthless.
- The world must give me happiness, or I will die.
Ellis’ ABC model- musturbatory thinking.
What are some other irrational assumptions?
- ‘Others must treat me fairly and give me what I need’.
- ‘People must live up to my expectations or it is terrible.’
Ellis’ ABC model- musturbatory thinking.
An individual who holds such assumptions and irrational beliefs will end up being…?
At the least very dissapointed, at the worst depressed!
Ellis’ ABC model- musturbatory thinking.
- Why would an individual who fails an exam become depressed?
- What must happen for mental healthiness to prevail?
- Depressed- not because they have failed the exam but because they hold the irrational belief regarding that failure (e.g. ‘I must always do well so failing the exam means I am stupid’)
- Such ‘musts’ need to be challenged in order for mental healthiness to prevail.
Ellis ABC model
What does is look like?
- Activating Event A - Activating event A
- Rational Belief B - Irrational belief B
- Healthy Emotion C -Unhealthy Emotion C
What did Beck come up with (1967)?
Becks Negative Triad!
What did Beck develop?
Why did he believe depressed people feel as they do?
- Developed a cognitive explanation for mental disorder that focused specifically on depression.
- Because their thinking is biased towards negative interpretations of the world and they lack a perceived sense of control.
Becks Negative Triad
What have depressed people acquired during childhood?
Why may this be?
- A negative schema- a tendency to adopt a negative view of the world.
- Variety of factors, including parental and/ or peer rejection & criticisms by teachers.
Becks Negative Triad
When are these negative schemas (e.g. expecting to fail) activated?
Whenever the person encounters a new situation (e.g. an exam) that resembles the original conditions in which these schemas were learned.
Becks Negative Triad
- Negative schemas lead to what in thinking?
- Give an example?
- Lead to systematic cognitive biases in thinking.
- E.g. individuals over-generalise, drawing a sweeping conclusion regarding self-worth on the basis of one small piece of negative feedback.
Negative triad
What is the negative triad and what does it include?
A pessimistic and irrational view of three key elements in a person’s belief system:
- The self:‘I am just plain & undesirable, what is there to like? I’m unattractive and seem to bore everyone.’
- The world (life experiences):‘I can understand why people don’t like me. They would all prefer someone elses company. Even my boyfriend left me.’
- The future: ‘I am always going to be on my own, there is nothing that is going to change this.’
What three things does the negative triad include?
- Negative view of self.
- Negative view of the world.
- Negative view of the future.
What is a schema?
A cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information in the brain. A schema helps an individual to make sense of new information.
Evaluation
Irrational beliefs may be realistic?
P- Limitation of the cognitive approach is that not all irrational beliefs are ‘irrational’, they may simply seem irrational.
E- Alloy & Abramson (1979) suggest that depressive realists tend to see things for what they are (with normal people tending to view the world through rose coloured glasses.)
E- They found that depressed people gave more accurate estimates of the likelihood of a disaster than ‘normal’ controls & called this the sadder but wiser effect.
L- These doubts about whether irrational thinking really is irrational raise questions about the value of the cognitive approach.
Evaluation- support for role of irrational thinking?
P- The view that depression is linked to irrational thinking is supported by research.
E- Hammen & Krantz (1976) found depressed participants made more errors in logic when asked to interpret written material than did non-depressed participants.
E- Bates et al. (1999) found that depressed participants who were given negative automatic-thought statements became more and more depressed.
L- This research supports the view that negative thinking leads to depression, although this link does not mean that negative thoughts cause depression. Instead, negative thinking may develop because of their depression.
Evaluation discussion- blames client rather than situational factors?
P- Cognitive approach suggests the client is who is responsible for the disorder.
E- Placing emphasis on the client is good as it gives the client the power to change the way things are. (cognitive approach refers to a ‘client’ rather than a ‘patient’.
E- However it has limitations- it may lead the client or therapist to overlook situational factors, e.g. not considering how life events or family problems may have contributed to the mental disorder.
L- The strength of the cognitive approach lies in its focus on the clients mind and recovery, but other aspects of the clients environment and life may also need to be considered.
