Cognitive Approach To Depression

Question 1

What is Ellis’s ABC model ?

Answer 1

• according to Ellis, good mental health is the result of rational thinking, whereas depression is the result of irrational thinking
• The ABC model explains how irrational thoughts could lead to depression

Question 2

What are the three parts of Ellis’s ABC model ?

Answer 2

Activating event
Beliefs
Consequences

Question 3

Explain the activating event as part of Ellis’s ABC model , including the friend example

Answer 3

• an event that ultimately leads to some type of high emotional response or negative dysfunctional thinking
• e.g. you pass a friend in the corridor at school and they ignore you, despite you saying ‘hello’

Question 4

Explain the beliefs part of Ellis’s ABC model , including the friend example

Answer 4

• your interpretation of the event, which can be rational or irrational
• A rational interpretation of the event might be that your friend is very busy and simply didn’t hear you
• An irrational interpretation of the event might be that you think your friend dislikes oh and never wants to talk to you

Question 5

Explain the consequences part of Ellis’s ABC model including the friend example

Answer 5

• rational beliefs lead to healthy emotional outcomes ( e.g. I will talk to my friend later and see if they’re ok)
• Irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotional outcomes ( e.g. I will ignore my friend as they clearly don’t want to talk to me)
• this illustrates how and activating event can be rationally or irrationally interpreted.
• irrational thinking / interpretations lead to unhealthy outcomes e.g. depression

Question 6

Explain the weakness of the cognitive approach to depression that it blames the patient

Answer 6

• it suggest that the disorder is simply in the patients mind which could lead to situational factors being over looked
• this is a problem because it may be unhelpful to place a large burden of blame on a person already prone to negative thoughts

Question 7

What is a strength of Ellis’s ABC model

Answer 7

• it can explain depression that seems to have stemmed from a particular moment in someone’s life

Question 8

What are the three elements of Beck’s negative triad

Answer 8

Negative thoughts about ;

The self = view themselves as worthless. E.g. ‘I’m ugly’

The world = interpret events in the world in an unrealistic way. E.g. ‘No one loves me’

The future = sees the future as hopeless as their worthlessness will prevent the situation from improving. E.g. ‘Things will always be this way’

Question 9

4 other points on Beck’s negative triad

Answer 9

• these thoughts tend to be automatic in depressed people as they occur spontaneously
• the negative triad interacts with negative schemes and cognitive biases to produce depressive thinking
• these individuals tend to focus selectively on certain negative aspects of a situation while ignoring equally positive information
• Beck predicted that in depression latent negative schemes that have formed during childhood become activated by a life event

Question 10

Weakness of the cognitive approach to depression

Answer 10

• it is limited in that genetic factors are ignored.
• see biological explanations
• also, little attention is paid to the role of social factors relating to life events

Question 11

Evaluation point of the cognitive approach to explaining depression from Lewinsohn

Answer 11

• May be that negative thoughts are an effect rather than cause of depression
• counter with Lewinsohn.
• measured negative thinking in non depressed adolescents
• 1 year later, their life events were assessed and whether they were suffering from depression
• showed that those who have experienced many negative life events had an increased likelihood of developing depression only if they were initially high in negative attitudes
• supports idea that negative beliefs are a risk factor for developing depression and they are involved in the development of depression