cognitive approach to explaining depression Flashcards
what does beck propose in his negative triad
1967
people are more prone to depression because of faulty information processing
depressed people tend to attend to negatives and ignore positives and have a black and white thinking
negative schema formed from cognitive vulnerability
schema - package of ideas and informations developed through experience, depressed people interpret all information about themselves negatively
negative view of the world, world is cold hard place
negative view of self, i am a failure
negative view of future, isnt much change the economy will become better, hopelessness
strength of beck’s negative triad
P: research support
E: clark and beck 1999 reviewed and concluded that not only were these cognitive vulnerabilities more common in depressed people but they preceded depression
A: significant strength as they used review, maintain high standards in research, has implications for society and funding allocation
C: therefore, it is a good evidence in supporting beck’s model as it is good validity
E: however, clark and beck’s study is a retrospective study which is looking at the participants past, they have no control over the extraneous variables involved
P: it is important to have a prospective evidence
E: cohen et al 2019 tracked the development of 473 adolescents regularly, measuring the cognitive vulnerability, found that showing cognitive vulnerability predicted later depression
A: cohen’s study was prospective with large sample size data collected first hand compared to retrospective’s secondary data, this is more reliable
C: this is a significant strength as it has positive implications in real life
E: we can use this to identify those who are at risk of developing depression at a young age and help them first, supporting psychology’s aim of helping people
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P: positive implications for real world
E: becks depression inventory, a very widely used measure in clinical practice for accessing depression
A: strength, tools can be developed on sound theoretical basis which provide a systematic and objective way of determining cognitive vulnerability reducing clinician bias
C: strength, contributed towards not only identifying whether treatment is needed but also to more scientific research like cohen’s 2019 study, making predictions between vulnerability and later depression validating it as a cause. depression can be broken in teenagers with an early intervention
E: matters because it suggest that many young people can go on and become active members of society and live fully as a result of beck’s theory
weakness of beck’s negative triad
P: not a good explanation for all kinds of depression and some of the clinical picture such as hallucinations
E: there are some additional aspects to depression that are not particularly well-explained by cognitive explanations
A: e.g. some depressed people feel extreme ager and some experience hallucinations and delusions which require biological treatment
C: these symptoms require a different explanation
E: therefore, cognitive approach is only a partial explanation
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what is ellis’s abc mode
irrational belief
A- activating event
irrational thoughts
occurs when we experience negative events e.g. failing an important test
B- beliefs
negative events trigger irrational beliefs
musterbation - must succeed
i-cant-stand-it-itis - disaster when things do not go smoothly
utopianism - world must always be fair
C- consequences
emotional and behavioural consequences
e,g,
believe you must always succeed and then fail at something, depression
strength of ellis’s abc model
P: used in clinical practice
E: it is shown to generate an effective treatment of depression REBT follows a process of rigourous challenging of the client’s irrational beliefs through logical disputing of the ideas that make them unhappy
A: david et al 2018 found that it can both change negative thoughts and relieve the symptoms of depression
C: its theoretical credibility is a significant strength because if it is theoretically valid and practically useful in forming treatment it can not only normalise people’s lives, getting them back to work but also give discipline to clinical psychology in the real world
E: matters bc it is a step forward in psychology’s aim to help people
weakness of ellis abc model
P: limited in explaining all types of depression, can only explain reactive depression
E: the theory’s explanation of cause (false belief) requires an activating agent and not all depression has an event that triggers a false belief and consequently depression. many patients are unable to provide an incident that triggers their depression i.e. major depressive disorder or sometimes known as endogenous depression
A: problem because it means that is is only a partial explanation for depression
C: therefore, it may not be useful in providing treatments for all kinds of depression as it would use CBT. e.g. major depression or bipolar disorder is more difficult to treat using CBT requiring drugs not CBT
E: therefore, explanation has limited use in generating treatments for all types of depression for which there are biological aspects, partial explanation
in what ways beck and ellis’s explanations for depressions are examples of cognitive approach
the cognitive approach is concerned with thinking and information processing. Beck took account of both these in his model of depression. He spoke of faulty information processing in depressed people who selectively attend to negative aspects of a situation. He also spoke of negative automatic thinking in the form of his negative triad.
Ellis was particularly concerned with irrational thinking and its effect on emotional state. Both Beck and Ellis see behaviour and emotion as the result of cognitive processes – this is known as cognitive primacy and is typical of cognitive approaches to psychology.
