Beck's Cognitive Therapy for Depression Flashcards
Beck’s background
tested psychoanalytic theory that depression is anger turned inward by analyzing depressed patients’ dream content, found that dream content of depressed patients was similar to conscious thoughts (self-critical, pessimistic), not hostile
Beck realized negative self-views are the basic process in depression, noticed cognitive distortions, and came up with a new theory that negative beliefs and biased information processing leads to depression
Beck’s concepts about depression causes
cognitive distortions, automatic thoughts, negative cognitive triad (self, world, future), schemas (cognitive structures that store information and memories that form the basis of core beliefs)
theory: schema
cognitive structures/internal representations that contain perceptions of self, goals, expectations, and memories
facilitate efficient processing of information
negative and rigid schemas can be maladaptive and lead to psychopathologies
schemas – core beliefs and underlying assumptions
theory: core beliefs
fixed, absolute, and generalized beliefs about self, world, future
in depression, core beliefs focus on unlovability, inadequacy, and defectiveness
ex) I’m helpless, I’m unlovable, I’m a failure
theory: underlying assumptions
standards, values, rules for living, guide everyday choices
if-then statements or general rules
ex) If I trust others, I will get hurt
ex) I must always be on guard
maladaptive assumptions are called dysfunctional attitudes
theory: development and perpetuation of maladaptive schemas
development: early childhood, poor attachment, ACEs
perpetuation: schema maintenance (see world through lens of schema, lots of confirmatory evidence), schema avoidance (avoid activating schema, thus precluding disconfirming experiences), schema compensation (also avoiding activating schema and precludes disconfirming experiences)
theory: automatic thoughts
cognitive content that arises spontaneously, quickly, and involunatrily
cognitive theory - putting it all together
activation of maladaptive schemas, negative core beliefs, and underlying assumptions (cognitive vulnerability) results in negative automatic thoughts
*negative automatic thoughts are often characterized by cognitive distortions
testing the diathesis-stress model of CT
comparing depressed and nondepressed groups on cognitive variables (dysfunctional attitudes), comparing cognitive variables in depressed individuals in active episode and then in remission, comparing depression-vulnerable and nondepressed groups on cognitive variables after priming stress, evaluating whether levels of cognitive vulnerability interact with life stress to predict depression over time (longitudinal studies)
testing diathesis-stress model for CT: why remission designs don’t work
studies did not find negative cognition in remitted individuals because there’s no activation of the cognitive vulnerability - either need to simulate stress in lab or assess stressful life events
Evidence for the diathesis-stress model of CT: cognitive variables
- cognitive variables are either self-report scores on questionnaires or performance-based tasks
- evidence shows that vulnerable individuals under stress show depressive cognition
- some evidence that primed cognitive negativity predicts relapse among remitted depressed individuals
evidence for diathesis-stress model for CT: study of school children’s responses to get a bad grade w/ measured attributional style
- stressor level (discrepancy between child’s self-defined acceptable grade and actual grade) and negative cognitions predicted depression symptoms immediately after event
- interaction b/w negative cognitions and stressor predicted depression symptoms 5 days after event
- implications: main effect of stressors is temporary, and most people experience temporary disappointment after failure, the more enduring negative affect and depression symptoms are predicted by the interaction of the stressor and negative cognitions, as individuals make significance out of their failures and what it means about them, distress is maintained
diathesis-stress model of CT: stress-generation theory
stress leads to depression, but depression also leads to stress
ex) excessive reassurance-seeking as a self-fulfilling prophecy
theory: personality in Beck’s model for depression
sociotropic/dependent = excessively concerned with relationships
autonomous/self-critical = excessively concerned with achievement
congruency hypothesis = people become depressed when they experience a life event that matches their personal vulnerability
*this research fell out of favor because of null findings, evidence against ideas of distinct types of depression depending on personality type
theory: content specificity meta-analysis
- Beck had a hypothesis that psychopathology is related to a unique set of beliefs
- meta-analysis of content specificity showed that depression and anxiety symptoms were associated with both depressive and anxious cognition
- examined structure of cognitive vulnerabilities to depression and anxiety and found support for transdiagnostic cognitive vulnerability
