Depression

Question 1

what is depression?

Answer 1

a mood disorder characterised by feelings of despondency and hopelessness

Question 2

what are the statistics of depression?

Answer 2

-about 20% of people suffer from it
-women are twice as vulnerable than men
-females more likely to get it about body-issues and low self-esteem, while men get it related to drug-abuse
-can occur in cycles, episodes lasting 2-6 months
-10% commit suicide, 60% of suicides are due to mood disorders
-average age of onset is late 20s

Question 3

how is depression diagnosed?

Answer 3

5 symptoms must be present every day for 2 weeks, including impairment in general functioning
-distinction between major depression and dysthymic depression (chronic) (difference bering duration, type and number of symptoms; 3 for chronic)

Question 4

what are the 2 types of depression?

Answer 4

-bipolar
-unipolar

Question 5

what can depression be further characterised by beyond bipolar and unipolar?

Answer 5

-endogenous (internal biochemical and hormonal factors)
-exogenous (reactive)(related to stressful experiences)

Question 6

what is unipolar depression?

Answer 6

-‘major depression’
-depression without mania
-25% of women get it, 12% of men
-characterised by clinical symptoms

Question 7

what are the symptoms of unipolar depression?

Answer 7

behavioural =
-loss of energy, social impairment, weight changes, sleep pattern disturbance, poor personal hygiene
emotional =
-loss of enthusiasm, constant depressed mood, worthlessness
cognitive =
-delusions, reduced concentration, thoughts of death, poor memory

Question 8

what is bipolar depression?

Answer 8

-‘manic depression’
-2% of people suffer from it
-onset is strongly linked to cognitive factors

Question 9

what are the symptoms of bipolar depression?

Answer 9

all unipolar symptoms, as well as:
behavioural =
-high energy levels, reckless behaviour, talkativeness
emotional =
-elevated mood states, irritability, lack of guilt
cognitive =
-delusions, irrational thought processes

Question 10

what are the two main explanations for depression?

Answer 10

-beck’s negative triad
-ellis’ ABC model

Question 11

what is beck’s negative triad?

Answer 11

-says people become depressed because of how they see the world through negative schemas, which are triggered whenever someone is in the position the negative schemas were learned
-beck said schemas developed in childhood/adolescents when authority figures place high demands on them and are highly critical
-negative schemas are fueled by and fuel cognitive biases (irrational ways of thinking)

Question 12

what are the three negative schemas?

Answer 12

-ineptness schemas (expect to fail)
-self-blame schemas (Responsible for all misfortunes)
-negative self-evaluation schemas (worthlessness)

Question 13

what are the 4 cognitive biases?

Answer 13

-arbitrary interference (conclusions drawn without sufficient evidence)
-selective abstraction (conclusions drawn from one part of a situation)
-overgeneralisation (conclusions drawn from a single event)
-magnification and minimisation (exaggerations in evaluation of performance)

Question 14

what are the three aspects of the negative triad?

Answer 14

-the self (see themselves as worthless)
-the world (obstacles that cannot be dealt with)
-the future (personal worthlessness blocking improvements)

Question 15

what is ellis’ ABC model?

Answer 15

-interpretation of events is what causes distress

Question 16

what does ABC stand for?

Answer 16

-Activating event (something that happens)
-Belief (what you believe about the A)
-Consequence (emotional response to belief)

Question 17

what was the explanation put forward by abramson et al 1978?

Answer 17

-depressed attributional style
-had three dimensions
-internal/external locus (whether an event concerns an individual or not)
-stable/unstable (whether the cause is permanent or temporary)
-global/specific (whether the cause relates to the whole person or one feature)
-seligman - the attributional style questionnaire (ASQ), hypothetical situations where ppl identify the cause

Question 18

what was the research conducted by Beevers, Clasen, Stice and Schyner?

Answer 18

-2010
-27 females aged 18-27, depression measured using CESD, 13 ps placed in low depression symptoms group, 14 in high
-mean CESD score was mild-moderate
-3 facial type stimuli (happy sad or neutral)
-also control stimuli of shapes
-432 trials conducted, face shown on the screen with either ‘*’ or ‘**’, ps had to press which one it was
-fmri scans simultaneously
-different brain activity for low and high group in brain areas requiring cognitive control over emotional stimuli
-depressive symptoms associated with impaired engagement of lateral pre-frontal cortex

Question 19

research on beck’s explanation

Answer 19

-McIntosh + Fischer 2000 - found no clear separation of the three thoughts, but instead a single, one-dimensional negative perception of the self
-boury et al 2001 - monitored students negative thoughts using Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) finding depressives misinterpret experiences negatively and feel hopeless abt the future, supporting it

Question 20

evaluate cognitive explanations of depression

Answer 20

-lots of research support for cognitive vulnerability being linked to depression onset, selectively attending to negative stimuli
-based on scientific principles allow objective testing
-high degree of success treating depression with cognitive therapies
-most evidence linking negative thinking to depression is correlational, beck believed it was a bi-directional relationship where depressed ppl caused depresses thoughts and vice versa
-acknowledges other aspects eg genes
-less success in treating and explaining manic depression
-some believe not all depressed people have a distorted view of their abilities

Question 21

what are the 2 alternative explanations of depression?

Answer 21

-genetic explanation (genetic vulnerability, inheritance, gene-mapping)
-behavioural explanation (depression being learned, lewinsohn - negative life events decline positive reinforcement, can also occur thru SLT)

Question 22

research on the 2 alternative explanations

Answer 22

-G-wender et al 1986 - adopted children who got depression were more likely to have a depressive bio parent than adoptive parent, even tho environment is different
-B-Maier + Seligman 1976 - ps placed in a situation where they can’t escape noise or shocks didn’t try to escape in future similar situations (learned helplessness)

Question 23

evaluate the 2 alternative explanations

Answer 23

-G-similarity of symptoms across different factors (Eg age gender etc) suggests genetic component. can be combined with cognitive explanation. can’t be purely genetic otherwise concordance rate would be 100%
-B-little research evidence to support. kanter et al - behaviourism can’t explain the complexity of depression