Becks negative triad

Question 1

what was Aaron becks 1967 cognitive approach?

Answer 1

Aaron beck took a cognitive approach to explain why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others.

Question 2

Beck suggested 3 parts to this cognitive vulnerability:

Answer 2

1. faulty information processing
2. negative self-schema
3. the negative triad

Question 3

what does it mean by faulty information processing?

Answer 3

• depressed people attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives
• tend to blow small problems out of proportion
• only think in black and white terms

Question 4

what does it mean by negative self-schemas?

Answer 4

• a self-schema is the package of information people have about themselves
• negative self-schema interpret all information about themselves in a negative way

Question 5

what is a schema?

Answer 5

• package of ideas and information developed through experience, they act as a mental framework for the interpretation of sensory information

Question 6

what does it mean by the negative triad?

Answer 6

• person develops a dysfunctional view of themselves because of three types of negative thinking that occur automatically regardless of reality

Question 7

what are the 3 key aspects of a person with a negative triad?

Answer 7

1. negative view of the world
   - creates the impression that there is no hope anywhere
2. negative view of the future
   - reduce any hopefulness and enhance depression
3. negative view of the self
   - enhance existing feelings, low self-esteem

Question 8

STRENGTH; supporting research

Answer 8

• cognitive vulnerability can predispose a person to become depressed
• beck concludes that cognitive vulnerabilities are more common in depressed people but they preceded depression
• joseph cohen et al 2019 tracked the development of 473 adolescents, regularly measured cognitive vulnerability
• found that showing cognitive vulnerability predicted later depression
• shows an association between cognitive vulnerability and depression

Question 9

STRENGTH;

Answer 9

• cohen et al = assessing cognitive vulnerability allows psychologists to screen young people, identifying those most at risk of developing depression in the future and monitoring them
• understanding cognitive vulnerability can also be applied in CBT
• an understanding of cognitive vulnerability is useful in more than one aspect of clinical practice