Depression Flashcards
What is depression?
Depression is a mood disorder
What are the three different types of depression?
Major depressive disorder - severe but often short-term depression
Unipolar depression - sufferers only experience depressions and not manic episodes usually in cycles
Bipolar depression - sufferers experience mixed episodes of mania and depression
What are the characteristics of depression?
Behavioural:
- change in activity levels
- neglecting personal hygiene
- sleep disruption
Emotional:
- low mood
- worthlessness
Cognitive:
- poor concentration
- negative schemas
What is Ellis’ ABC model?
A - activating event
B - belief about why the event occurred
C - consequence, the feelings and behaviour the belief now causes
What is Beck’s negative triad?
The self - sees themselves as worthless
The world - there is no hope anywhere
The future - the individual has a pessimistic view of the future
What is a negative self-schema?
Beck suggested that negative self-schemas develop in childhood then continue into adulthood and dominate thinking
What are cognitive biases?
Cognitive biases are faulty or unhelpful thinking patterns they include: overgeneralising, catastrophising
What did Alloy et al find out about depression?
Alloy et al tested the thinking styles of young americans in their early 20’s after 6 years the researcher found that only 1% of the positive group developed depression compared to 17% of the ‘negative group’
What is one issue with Alloy et al’s research on depression?
That although the supporting evidence shows a link between negative thinking and depression it does not provide evidence for a cause-and-effect relationship, meaning we are unable to conclude that they are linked
What is CBT?
Cognitive behavioural therapy
What is Ellis’ rational emotive behavioural therapy ? (REBT)
The individual uses rational confrontation to reduce negative cognitive and emotional symptoms of depression, this is often done through empirical dispute (asking them to proof their negative thoughts are true)
Another way is logical dispute (asking if the negative belief is logical or based on common sense)
What did David et al find out about REBT?
Found people suffering from major depressive disorder who were treated with 14 weeks of REBT had better treatment outcomes than those treated with the drug fluoxetine 6 months after treatment.
What did Craighead and Dunlop find out about people suffering from major depressive disorder?
Carried out a meta-analysis to find out whether CBT is more effective when used on its own or in a combination with drug therapy and it was found a combined treatment was generally more effective
