Cognitive Explanations for Depression

Question 1

2 cognitive explanations

Answer 1

Becks negative triad

Elis’ ABC model

Question 2

Outline Beck’s negative triad (A01)

remember ‘negative’

Answer 2

Beck’s model of depression

1. Faulty information processing
2. Negative self-schemas
3. The negative triad
4. Negative schema- mental representation
5. Cognitive triad- 1976
6. Negative thinking patterns
7. Selectively attend to negative stimuli
1. Overgeneralisation
2. faulty informational processing
3. Preconceived expectations
4. cognitive disfunction

Question 3

Outline Elis’ ABC model (A01)

remember ‘irational’

Answer 3

1. Irrational thinking
   
   2. ABC model
   3. Trigger- an activating event
   4. Overgeneralisation
   5. faulty informational processing
   6. Preconceived expectations
   7. cognitive disfunction

Question 4

Describe the ABC model steps

Answer 4

A ACTIVATING EVENT An event occurs, for example, you pass a friend in the corridor at school and he/she ignores you, despite the fact you said ‘hello’.B BELIEFS Your belief is your interpretation of the event, which could either be rational orirrational: A rational interpretation of the event might be that your friend is very busy and possibly stressed, and he/she simply didn’t see or hear you. An irrational interpretation of the event might be that your friend dislikesyou and never wants to talk to you again.C CONSEQUENCES According to Ellis, rational beliefs lead to healthy emotional outcomes (for example, ‘I will talk to my friend later and see if he/she is okay’), whereas irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotional outcomes, including depression (for example, ‘I will ignore my friend and delete their mobile number, as theyclearly don’t want to talk to me’).

Question 5

Describe Elis’ ABC model

Answer 5

A ACTIVATING EVENT An event occurs, for example, you pass a friend in the corridor at school and he/she ignores you, despite the fact you said ‘hello’.

B BELIEFS Your belief is your interpretation of the event, which could either be rational orirrational:
- A rational interpretation of the event might be that your friend is very busy and possibly stressed, and he/she simply didn’t see or hear you.
- An irrational interpretation of the event might be that your friend dislikes you and never wants to talk to you again.

C CONSEQUENCES According to Ellis, rational beliefs lead to healthy emotional outcomes (for example, ‘I will talk to my friend later and see if he/she is okay’), whereas irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotional outcomes, including depression (for example, ‘I will ignore my friend and delete their mobile number, as they tclearly don’t want to talk to me’).

Question 6

Irrational thoughts?

Answer 6

According to Ellis, irrational thoughts are patterns of thinking that are illogical, distort reality and prevent you from reaching your goals.

Question 7

What is the supporting evidence for Beck’s assumption? (AO3)-

Answer 7

For example, Koster et al study in (2005) was conducted to investigate attention and they found that participants with major depression took longer than the controls to indicate where a square had appeared when presented with a negative distractor word beforehand (e.g. weak).

Question 8

What does Koster et al’s study suggest about the depressed?

Answer 8

E: The time lag for the participants with depression suggests that they focused on the negative word for too long and were less attentive. This in turn suggests that the participants with depression have a negative cognitive bias. Further to this, the underpinnings of Beck’s claims are perhaps strengthened by the study as quantitative data supports it.

L: Therefore, the quantitative data from this study provides further reinforcement to the foundational concepts of Beck’s model.

Question 9

Evans et al (2005) found that depressed individuals have a tendency to have maladaptive thoughts and the more they hold, the more severe their depression.

(AO3)-

correlational research?

Answer 9

E: While this supports the idea that negative thinking is linked to depression, arguably this is not a compelling body of research as cause and effect cannot be established. This is because it is unclear whether negative thinking caused depression or whether it is depression that causes negative thinking. This is problematic as studies such as this cannot explicitly support the key theoretical claims which makes it challenging to claim that Beck’s model has internal validity.

L - Therefore, it could be argued that Beck’s model lacks credibility to some degree as it relies on studies that do not necessarily adhere to strictest scientific methods.

Question 10

Point: A major strength for the cognitive approach to explaining depression is it provides practical real world applications and ways for us to treat the disorder.

Answer 10

e.g. CBT and REBT

reintegrate, - reintegrate into society, working. Costing UK economy £x, divert funds to alternative means/ other public services

Question 11

more compelling (-)

Answer 11

P: A final drawback of the cognitive explanation to depression is that it is too simplistic and there are more compelling explanations .

E: For example, a diathesis-stress approach may be seen as more advisable, suggesting that individuals with a genetic vulnerability for depression are more prone to the effects of living in a negative environment, which then leads to negative irrational thinking.

E: This highlights a limitation of the cognitive explanation as unlike the diathesis stress model > it does not account for the causes of negative thinking or the variations in symptoms among depressed individuals > this could then lead to less effective treatment being used to help patients .

L: This demonstrates the need for a more interactionist approach to explaining depression that considers multiple factors in the development of depression.