Cognitive approach-Treating depression

Question 1

A01

What is Cognitive behavioural therapy(CBT)

Answer 1

CBT Method for treating depression based on cognitive & behavioural Techniques

• cognitive element aims to identify irrational thoughts, which lead to depression. aim is to replace them with more productive , positve ones
• behavioural element of CBT encourages patients to test their beliefs through behavioural experiments& HW
• All CBT starts with an initial assessment, in which patient & therapist identify patient’s problems, then agree on a set of goals, & plan of action to achieve these goals.

both of below therapies are forms of CBT, but take diff aproach

Question 2

A01

Outline Beck’s Cognitive therapy

Answer 2

CBT aims to identify & challenge negative thoughts about world, future& self ( negative triad)
* Client encouraged to challenge irrational thoughts directly with help from therapist

• clients are set HW to record positive events, used in sessions to help challange irrational thoughts
  if client states ‘ everyone hates me’ but in hw they recorded social event they enjoyed therapist can produce this evidence & use it as proof to show client statement is incorrect

Question 3

A01

Ellis’s rational emotive behavioural therapy(REBT) A01

argument

Answer 3

REBT extends ACB model to ABCDE model
>D for dispute
>E for effect
>central focus of REBT-identify & challenge irrational thoughts
REBT therapist identifies irrational beliefs of client like utopianism,
>a REBT therapist challenges irrational belief & present strong argument to dispute this idea
>The intended effect is to change irrational belief & break link between negative life events & depression
* Empirical arguments involve disputing if there is real evidence to support the irrational beleif
* Logical arguments -disputing if negative effect follows logically from the facts**

Question 4

A03

evidence for Effectiveness
(Beck CBT) March et al

Strength

Answer 4

CBT works for treating depression
March et al compared CBT to antidepressant drugs & combination of both treatments
Randomly assigned 327 depressed adolescent to 1 of 3 groups
found after 36 weeks
* 81% of CBT group
* 81% of antidepressant group
* 86% of combination group
were all significantly improved
showing CBT is as effective as antidepressant & more when using both treatments

Question 5

A03

(Beck CBT) is bad for ppl with learning disabilties

Limitation

Answer 5

> some cases of depression so severe- cannot motivate clients to engage in cognitive work of CBT
Hard cognitive work in CBT-unsuitable for ppl with learning disabilities-not able to pay attention in sessions
CBT only suitable for certain ppl

Question 6

A03

Relapse rates
(Beck CBT)

Limitation

Answer 6

CBT-high relapse rates
although effective at treating depression , there are concerns about long term effectiveness

Question 7

A03

Client preferances

Limitation

Answer 7

CBT for depression focuses on identifying & changing unhelpful patterns of thinking & behaviour
Large body of evidence suggests when using appropriate clients , its highly effective in short term in tackling symptoms of depression
However not all clients want to tackle depression in ths way , some ppl want their symptoms gone quickly & prefer medication
others, e.g survivors of trauma want to explore origins of symptoms