Chapter 2: Beck's Cognitive Model of Depression

Question 1

What did Dr. Beck seek to challenge?

Answer 1

Prevailing idea that emotional responses were the direct results/effect of something that happened ( a situation).

Question 2

What did Beck believe?

Answer 2

It is possible for you to have control over your responses to events in your life, and that if you changed the thoughts, then your feeling and behavior would change as well.

Question 3

T or f? Beck stated that it is not a situation that directly affects how people feel emotionally, but their thought in relation to the situation.

Answer 3

T

Question 4

T or f? When people are in distress, their perspective is often inaccurate and thoughts often unrealistic.

Answer 4

T

Question 5

Who did Beck initially develop his theory in relation to?

Answer 5

Depressed individuals

Question 6

What did Beck propose?

Answer 6

The cognitive triad: Depressed individuals have a negative view of themselves, environment, and the future.

Question 7

What type of view believes people to believe they are defective, deficient, and worthless?

Answer 7

Negative view of self

Question 8

When depressed people are depressed, and are dissatisfied with their current situation and believe the world is making unreasonable demands upon them, what type of view is this?

Answer 8

Negative view of the world

Question 9

When depressed, people are pessimistic about their ability to attain desired outcomes; what kind of view is this regarding?

Answer 9

Negative view of the future

Question 10

According to Beck’s Cognitive Triad, as a result of negative thinking, depressed individuals tend to do what?

Answer 10

Tend to misinterpret facts in negative ways, and tend to blame themselves for negative things that happen, and usually see situations worse than they really are.

Question 11

What are the primary causes of depressive symptoms?

Answer 11

Negative thoughts generated by dysfunctional beliefs and distorted thinking

Question 12

A direct relationship exists between what two entity severity?

Answer 12

Severity of symptoms and severity of negative thoughts

Question 13

T or f? As depression worsens, the severity of symptoms becomes repetitive and intrusive.

Answer 13

T

Question 14

In severe cases, depression can be so severe that it does what?

Answer 14

Dominates thinking, making it hard for the depressed person to concentrate on and engage in normal activities.

Question 15

According to the cognitive triad model, what did Beck state?

Answer 15

People engage in faulty, biased information processing leading to cognitive distortions, systematic errors in thinking, and negative interpretations of situations.

Question 16

What other notion did Beck propose?

Answer 16

The notion of dysfunctional beliefs, excessively rigid beliefs about oneself and the world.

Question 17

When do excessively rigid beliefs develop and what do they involve?

Answer 17

During childhood and involve unrealistic expectations and standards by which people judge themselves

Question 18

What did Beck assume starts a depressive episode?

Answer 18

Death of a loved one, and loss of job makes contact with another dysfunctional belief

Question 19

The confluence of what factors activates biases?

Answer 19

negative attentional and interpretational

Question 20

What gives rise to the negative cognitive triad and other symptoms of depression?

Answer 20

Biases

Question 21

What provides a useful descriptive account of depression and clarifies how depression is maintained?

Answer 21

Beck’s model

Question 22

What gives insight into how depression can be ameloriated?

Answer 22

Beck’s cognitive triad model

Question 23

What has research not been able to confirm?

Answer 23

Dysfunctional beliefs as the cause of depression and the model has proven to be less successful in identifying risk factors for depression and less useful for purposes of prediction and prevention.

Question 24

What three levels of cognition does the cognitive-behavioral model suggest?

Answer 24

1. Automatic thoughts
2. Intermediate thoughts
3. Core beliefs

Question 25

What are a brief stream of thoughts about ourselves and others and can be considered surface-level and non-volitional cognitions?

Answer 25

Automatic thoughts

Question 26

T or f? Automatic thoughts cannot be directly controlled by people since they are reflexive reactions people hold about themselves.

Answer 26

T

Question 27

How can people learn to indirectly control these thoughts?

Answer 27

Challenge the beliefs that are associated with them.

Question 28

What characteristics make thoughts difficult to identify?

Answer 28

Automatic- arise w/out intention or notice
Habitual- accepted as normal, presence taken for granted, make no demands on our attention
Rapid/fleeting- here and gone in the moment
Condensed/abbreviated-may be images or symbols
Situation-look for situations that give rise to shifts in emotions
Distorted- listen to words that may give rise to errors in thinking (absolution, generalizations)
Repetitive- look for patterns, and emerging themes

Question 29

What is “hot” cognition?

Answer 29

Actual thought when looked objectively appears to make a clear link between what’s going on in our heads and our emotional state; relates most closely to our emotion experienced.

Question 30

What can we do to identify hot cognitions?

Answer 30

Listen for verbal cues such as the language used in thought, watch for nonverbal changes in facial expression, shifts in position, or hand movements; listen for changes in pitch, tone, volume, and the pace of a patient’s speech