Cognitive treatment for unipolar depression & evaluation

Question 1

What is the cognitive treatment for unipolar depression?

Answer 1

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

Question 2

What does CBT aim to do?

Answer 2

Cognitive behavioural therapy aims to alter thought processes, (the cognitive part) and monitor the effectiveness of this on everyday behaviour or in role play situations (the behaviour part).

Question 3

What does CBT use?

Answer 3

CBT often uses an A B C framework in order to identify what is making people act in irrational ways.

Question 4

What is the A part?

Answer 4

A is the activating event: a fact or event or the behaviour or attitude of another person (e.g. someone ignoring you).

Question 5

What is the B part?

Answer 5

B is the beliefs we hold about A (e.g. an irrational thought such as ‘everyone dislikes me’).

Question 6

What is the C part?

Answer 6

C is the cognitive, emotional or behavioural consequence of A (e.g. depressed, lack of self worth, withdraws from social contact).

Question 7

According to this approach, how does mental illness arise?

Answer 7

According to this approach mental disorders arise through the beliefs held at B and we are capable of learning to control and modify our belief systems (and hence their consequences)

Question 8

What is the major objective of CBT?

Answer 8

The major objective of CBT is to substitute rational and functional beliefs for irrational and dysfunctional beliefs at stage B.

Question 9

What is the client encouraged to become aware of in CBT?

Answer 9

The client is encouraged to become aware of beliefs that contribute to feelings of anxiety and depression.

Question 10

How does the client examine the avdantages and disadvantages of their beliefs.

Answer 10

They examine the advantages and disadvantages of these beliefs using a cost-benefit analysis.

Question 11

How is role play used?

Answer 11

Role-play is conducted to find out the consequences of new thought patterns

Question 12

What do clients complete?

Answer 12

clients complete homework assignments in the form of diaries of their thoughts and behaviours.

Question 13

What is the relationship between the therapist and client?

Answer 13

The therapy is active and directive and collaboration between therapist and client, although the therapist will challenge the client on what they say in order to make them confront their irrational beliefs.

Question 14

What study supports the successfulness of CBT?

Answer 14

Beck et al (1978) demonstrated that CBT is far more effective than drug therapy and had the added benefit of low attrition rates than drug therapy supporting the effectiveness of CBT as a treatment for unipolar depression.

Question 15

Evaluate in terms of side effects.

Answer 15

A further strength of CBT is that compared to drug therapies there are no unpleasant side effects to both the patients’ mental and physical health. For example, SSRIs used to treat depression have many unpleasant side effects and withdrawal symptoms which are not experience by patients using CBT.

Question 16

Evaluate in terms of efficiency.

Answer 16

CBT is very time consuming and very expensive especially compared to drug therapy. CBT is practiced by a qualified professional who has to undergo considerable training and there is currently a shortage of therapists working for the NHS.

Question 17

How can efficiency be increased?

Answer 17

However CBT has started to be carried out over the telephone which cuts down the costs considerably.

Question 18

Evaluate in terms of simplicity.

Answer 18

CBT is not actually curing the cause of the disorder but is just relieving the symptoms. Psychodynamic psychologists argue that the cause of depression is actually in the patients’ unconscious mind and they therefore argue that a more successful treatment is psychoanalysis or free association.