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depression Flashcards

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1
Q

define depression

A

a mood disorder defined by a consistent and long-lasting sense of sadness

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2
Q

what are the behavioural categories of depression?

A

changed activity levels
aggression
changed sleeping and eating patterns

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3
Q

behavioural categories of depression: changed activity levels

A

may result in psychomotor agitation or an inability to wake up and get out of bed in the morning
high anxiety levels
Anhedonia - decreased ability to feel pleasure/ lose of interest

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4
Q

behavioural categories of depression: aggression

A

towards oneself and towards other
may be self-harm
verbal or physical

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5
Q

behavioural categories of depression: changed sleeping and eating patterns

A

insomnia and obesity or constant lethargy and anorexia

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6
Q

what are the emotional characteristics of depression?

A

lowered self-esteem
constant poor mood
high levels of anger or guilt

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7
Q

emotional characteristics of depression: lowered self-esteem

A

sense of self-loathing
lasting months at a time
high in severity

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8
Q

emotional characteristics of depression: constant poor mood

A

feeling worthless and empty
lasting months at a time
high in severity

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9
Q

emotional characteristics of depression: high levels of anger or guilt

A

towards oneself and others
may be self-harm
helplessness and feeling of no value compared to others

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10
Q

what are the cognitive characteristics of depression?

A

absolutist thinking
selective attention towards negative events
poor concentration

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11
Q

cognitive characteristics of depression: absolutist thinking

A

jumping to irrational conclusions
seeing situations as disasters
everything is black and white

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12
Q

cognitive characteristics of depression: selective attention towards negative events

A

dwelling on negative aspects rather than positive
bias towards recalling unhappy events
negative self-schemas

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13
Q

cognitive characteristics of depression: poor concentration

A

the consequent disruptions to school and work add to feelings of worthlessness and anger
leading to poor decision making

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14
Q

assumptions of the cognitive approach

A
  • Individuals who suffer from mental disorders have distorted and irrational thinking – which may cause maladaptive behaviour.
  • It is the way you think about the problem rather than the problem itself which causes the mental disorder.
  • Individuals can overcome mental disorders by learning to use more appropriate cognitions. If people think in more positive ways, they can be helped to feel better.
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15
Q

what did Aaron Beck do?

A

developed a cognitive explanation of depression - Beck’s Cognitive Triad (1967)

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16
Q

what are the components to Beck’s cognitive triad?

A

three schemas with a persistent automatic negative bias
the self
the world
the future
leads to avoidance, social withdrawal and inaction

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17
Q

what are cognitive distortions?

A

Beck found that depressed people focus more on the negative aspects and ignore the positives - may distort and misinterpret information and perceive the world inaccurately = cognitive bias

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18
Q

define and explain types of cognitive distortion

A

over-generalisations - one negative experience results in an assumption that the same thing will happen every time
selective abstraction - mentally filtering out positives and focusing on negatives

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19
Q

what is a schema?

A

package of knowledge which stores information and ideas about our self and the world around us - usually developed during childhood

20
Q

what did Ellis do?

A

He explained depression using the ABC model (1962) - according to Ellis, good mental health is the result of rational thinking which allows people to be happy and pain free, whereas depression is the result of irrational thinking, which prevents us from being happy and pain free

21
Q

what are the three stages of the ABC model?

A

Activating event
Beliefs
Consequences

22
Q

explain activating event

A

an event occurs which triggers irrational thoughts
can be big or small e.g. missing the bus

23
Q

explain beliefs

A

the interpretation of the activating event is either rational or irrational
e.g. rational belief ex is not right for you, irrational belief now unlovable

24
Q

explain consequences

A

rational beliefs lead to healthy emotional outcomes whereas irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotional outcomes

25
Q

what is mustabatory thinking and how can it impact on one’s mental health

A

consequence of not accepting we don’t live in a perfect world: Beck said ‘there are 3 musts that hold us back: I must do well, you must treat me well, the world must be easy’
failure to achieve unrealistic goals leads to disappointment

26
Q

alternative explanations of depression

A
  • The biological approach to understanding mental disorders suggests that genes and neurotransmitters may cause depression
  • The success of drug therapies for treating depression suggest that neurotransmitters do play an important role; the medication alters the levels of specific neurotransmitters and reduces the symptoms
  • At the very least, a diathesis-stress approach might be 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.
27
Q

describe the diathesis-stress model

A

suggests that certain genes create a vulnerability for mental disorders and that after an activating event or trauma, mental disorders develop in these individuals

28
Q

how does the cognitive theory explain depression?

A

depression is due to irrational thinking and cognitions that are skewed towards negative thoughts

29
Q

strengths of Ellis’ theory

A
  • application to therapy - cognitive ideas have been used to develop effective treatments for depression including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) - attempt to identify and challenge negative, irrational thoughts and have successfully used to treat people with depression
30
Q

weaknesses of Ellis’ theory

A
  • does not explain the origins of irrational thoughts - unable to determine if negative, irrational thoughts cause depression or whether a person’s depression leads to a negative mindset - possible that other factors are the cause of depression and one of the side effects are negative, irrational thoughts e.g. genes and neurotransmitters
  • genetic research suggests a predisposition to depression is inherited - biological aspect to depression
31
Q

strengths of Beck’s theory

A
  • research to support the proposal that depression is associated with faulty information processing, negative self-schemas and the negative triad - cognitions can be seen before depression develops - Grazioli and Terry (2000)
  • diathesis-stress model explains that negative thinking is a vulnerability triggered by life experiences
  • Beck’s cognitive explanations forms the basis of CBT - all cognitive aspects of depression can be challenged in CBT
32
Q

weaknesses of Beck’s theory

A
  • does not explain the origins of irrational thoughts - unable to determine if negative, irrational thoughts cause depression or whether a person’s depression leads to a negative mindset - possible that other factors are the cause of depression and one of the side effects are negative, irrational thoughts e.g. genes and neurotransmitters
  • genetic research suggests a predisposition to depression is inherited - biological aspect to depression
33
Q

what does CBT stand for?

A

cognitive behavioural therapy

34
Q

what is CBT?

A

involves both cognitive and behavioural elements to attempt to change negative schemas and challenge irrational thoughts through cognitive restructuring

35
Q

cognitive elements to CBT

A

aims to identify irrational and negative thoughts which lead to depression and replace them with more positive ones

36
Q

behavioural elements to CBT

A

encourages patients to test their beliefs through behavioural experiments and homework

37
Q

how does CBT work?

A

patient is seen as a scientist -generate hypotheses about validity of irrational thoughts - realise they don’t match reality - this changes schemas and irrational thoughts are discarded
thought catching - identify irrational thoughts of negative triad
hwk task to keep a diary of negative thoughts to identify situations that cause negative thinking
behavioural activation - take part in activities you used to enjoy

38
Q

Beck’s cognitive therapy

A

help the patient to identify negative thoughts in relation to themselves, the world and the future using Beck’s negative triad
challenge irrational thoughts by discussing evidence for and against them
patient encouraged to test the validity of their negative thoughts using homework to challenge these thoughts

39
Q

Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour therapy

A

attempts to change negative schemas and challenge irrational thoughts through cognitive restructuring
developed the ABC model to include Dispute and Effective

40
Q

how does REBT work?

A

dispute: therapist confronts client’s irrational beliefs
empirical arguments challenge client to provide evidence for irrational beliefs
logical arguments attempt to show beliefs don’t make sense

effect: reduction of irrational thoughts lead to better consequences in future

shame-attacking exercise: client performs behaviour they fear to others - shows they can act against their emotions and cope with unpleasant experience and survive other’s disapproval and that most people don’t notice/care about our actions

41
Q

what does the ABCDE model stand for?

A

Activating event
Beliefs
Consequences
Dispute
Effect

42
Q

differences between CBT and REBT

A

CBT: client helped to figure out irrationality of their thoughts themselves by acting as a scientist
REBT: therapist explains irrationality of thoughts through disputation

43
Q

strengths of CBT

A

research evidence demonstrates its effectiveness in treating depression - March et al (2007) found that CBT was as effective as antidepressants - examined adolescents with depression comparing CBT with antidepressant both groups (81%) improved significantly however 86% of the CBT and antidepressant group improved significantly

drug therapies have side effects whereas CBT does not

44
Q

weaknesses of CBT

A

requires motivation - some patients may not engage with CBT resulting in ineffective treatment so antidepressant may be best in these cases

may be criticised for its overemphasis on the role of cognitions - suggests that a person’s irrational thinking is the sole cause of depression and doesn’t take into account other factors - ineffective in treating patients with different circumstances e.g. domestic violence

since there is a genetic component - drug therapies may be more effective

time consuming and expensive

45
Q

how is depression treated using the cognitive approach?

A

it’s treated using CBT which is a combination of cognitive therapy and behavioural therapy

psychology: psychopathology (4 decks)

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