The Cognitive Approach to explaining depression

Question 1

What is the cognitive approach?

Answer 1

The approach that focuses on how our mental processes like thoughts, perceptions & attention affect behaviour

Question 2

What was Beck’s theory of depression?

Answer 2

• he suggested a cognitive approach to explaining why some people are more vulnerable to depression
• he believed it’s the way the person thinks (cognitions) that create this vulnerability
• the 3 parts of this cognitive vulnerability are: faulty information processing, negative self-schemas and the negative triad

Question 3

What is faulty information processing?

Answer 3

• when depressed we focus on the negative aspects of a situation & ignore the positives - we tend to enlarge small problems out of proportion & thinking in absolutes

Question 4

What are negative self-schemas?

Answer 4

• schemas are ‘packages’ of info developed through experience that act as a mental framework for interpreting info
• a self-schema is the package of info we have about ourselves
• if we have a negative self-schema we interpret all info about ourselves in a negative way

Question 5

What is the negative triad?

Answer 5

• 3 types of negative thinking that occur automatically which leads to a person developing a dysfunctional view of themselves known as the negative triad
• the 3 things we have negative thoughts on are: the world, the future & our self

Question 6

What is Ellis’s ABC model?

Answer 6

• he proposed that depression occurs when an activating event (A) triggers an irrational belief (B) which produces a consequence (C)
• he proposed that good mental health is achieved from rational thoughts
• he believed that irrational thoughts were illogical & unrealistic which interfere with us being happy

Question 7

What do the 3 components of the ABC model mean?

Answer 7

• A - Ellis believed that we get depressed when we experience negative events which trigger irrational beliefs
• B - a range of irrational beliefs musterbation which is the belief that we must always achieve perfection & utopianism is the belief that life is always meant to be fair
• C - there are emotional & behavioural consequences to irrational beliefs triggered from the event - a common consequence is depression

Question 8

Evaluation (of Beck’s theory): It has good supporting evidence

Answer 8

• lots of evidence support the idea that depression is associated with faulty info processing, negative self-schemas & the negative triad proposed by Beck
• e.g. Grazioli & Terry assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability & depression before and after birth
• thy found that women with higher cognitive vulnerability were more likely to suffer from post-natal depression
• this is a strength for Beck’s model as it shows that cognition may cause depression

Question 9

Evaluation (of Beck’s theory): It doesn’t explain all aspects of depression

Answer 9

• Beck’s theory explains the symptoms of depression however depression is much more complex than that
• some depressed patients are deeply angry which can’t be explained by Beck
• some sufferers of depression suffer hallucinations
• very rarely depressed patients suffer Cotard syndrome which is the delusion that there are zombies
• a limitation of Beck’s theory is that these cases can’t be easily explained using it

Question 10

Evaluation (of Ellis’s theory): It has a practical application in CBT

Answer 10

• a strength is that it has led to a successful therapy
• the idea that by challenging irrational negative beliefs a person can reduce their depression is supported by research evidence
• this supports the theory because it suggests that the irrational beliefs had some role in the depression

Question 11

Evaluation (of Ellis’s theory): It doesn’t explain all aspects of depression

Answer 11

• a limitation of Ellis’s theory is similar to Beck’s
• it doesn’t easily explain the anger associated with depression or the fact that some patients suffer hallucinations & depressions