BMT - The Cognitive Approach to Explaining and Treating Depression

Question 1

How does the cognitive approach generally explains depression?

Answer 1

in terms of faulty and irrational thought processes and perceptions.

Question 2

How does the behaviorist explanation link with the cognitive explanation?

Answer 2

the behaviorist explanation focuses on manipulative (faulty) behaviors and the cognitive approach focuses on the maladaptive cognitions that underpin such maladaptive behaviors

Question 3

What is Beck’s negative triad?

Answer 3

Beck believes people become depressed because the world is seen negatively through negative schemas, which dominates thinking and are triggered whenever individuals are in situations that are similar to those in which negative schemas were learned

Question 4

How and when are negative schemas formed?

Answer 4

in early childhood and adolescence, when authority figures, such as parents, place unreal demands on individuals and are highly critical of them

Question 5

What is an ineptness schema?

Answer 5

make depressives expect to fail

Question 6

What is a self-blame schema?

Answer 6

make depressives feel responsible for all misfortunes

Question 7

what is negative self-evaluation schemas?

Answer 7

constantly remind depressives of their worthlessness

Question 8

What is arbitary interference?

Answer 8

conclusions drawn in the absence of suffiencient evidence

i.e. a man concluding he’s worthless because it’s raining the day he hosts an outdoor party

Question 9

What is selective abstraction?

Answer 9

conclusions drawn from just one part of a situation

i.e. a worker feeling worthless when a product doesn’t work, even though several people made it

Question 10

What is overgeneralisation?

Answer 10

sweeping conclusions drawn on the basis on a single event

i.e. a student regarding poor performance on a test as proof of his worthlessness

Question 11

What is magnification and minimization?

Answer 11

exaggerations in evaluation of performance

i.e. a man believing he’s ruined his car due to a small scratch (maximisation) or a woman believing herself worthless despite many praises (minimisation)

Question 12

What are the three general types of negative schemas about?

Answer 12

the self
the world
the future

Question 13

What is Ellis’s ABC model

Answer 13

Ellis believed that depressives mistakenly blame external events for their unhappiness

he believed that it is their interpretation of these events that is to blame for their distress.

Question 14

What does the A in the ABC model stand for?

Answer 14

Activating events - something happens in the environment around you

i.e. your teacher tells you she’s unhappy with your work

Question 15

What does the B in the ABC model stand for?

Answer 15

beliefs - you hold a belief about the event or situation

i.e. you see yourself as a failure

Question 16

What does the C in the ABC model stand for?

Answer 16

Consequence - you have an emotional response to your belief

i.e. a feeling of worthlessness

Question 17

How does the ABC model explain depression?

Answer 17

the activating event triggers an emotion that is seen as true and the consequence is that the individual becomes depressed because they have a negative view about them self and no confidence in their abilitu

Question 18

What are positive evaluation points for the cognitive explanation for depression?

Answer 18

• good practical applications, a high degree of success has been achieved in treating depression with cognitive therapies in comparison to therapies based on other explanations, thus proving support
• the theory acknowledges that other aspects, such as genes, development and early experiences, can lead to certain thinking patterns which then lead to depression

Question 19

What are the negative evaluation points for the cognitive explanation for depression?

Answer 19

• cognitive approach has had less success in explaining and treating the manic component of bipolar depression, lessening support for the model as a global explanation of depression
• some critics believe that not all depressed people have a distorted view of their own abilities and that while they may focus on negative elements of events, they do actually understand such events accurately and therefore don’t show the negative biases that Beck believes they should

Question 20

What is CBT?

Answer 20

CBT assesses patients to identify irrational and maladaptive thoughts and alter them

thoughts are perceived as affecting emotions and behaviour and so are modified to reduce depressive symptoms

Question 21

What are the two stages of CBT called?

Answer 21

rational behaviour therapy

treatment of automatic thoughts

Question 22

What is involved in rational behaviour therapy ?

Answer 22

making patients irrational and negative thoughts more rational and positive by challenging these irrational thoughts

patients are told to practice positive thinking and optimistic thinking

Question 23

What are the positive evaluation points for CBT?

Answer 23

• CBT is the most effective psychological treatment for depression. It is also very effective in stopping mild depression from developing into severe depression.
• the application of CBT occurs over relatively short periods of time compared to others and is more cost effective. CBT also has long-term benefits, as the techniques involved are used continually to stop symptoms returning