Depression Flashcards
what is depression?
a mood disorder characterised by feelings of despondency and hopelessness
what are the statistics of depression?
-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
how is depression diagnosed?
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)
what are the 2 types of depression?
-bipolar
-unipolar
what can depression be further characterised by beyond bipolar and unipolar?
-endogenous (internal biochemical and hormonal factors)
-exogenous (reactive)(related to stressful experiences)
what is unipolar depression?
-‘major depression’
-depression without mania
-25% of women get it, 12% of men
-characterised by clinical symptoms
what are the symptoms of unipolar depression?
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
what is bipolar depression?
-‘manic depression’
-2% of people suffer from it
-onset is strongly linked to cognitive factors
what are the symptoms of bipolar depression?
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
what are the two main explanations for depression?
-beck’s negative triad
-ellis’ ABC model
what is beck’s negative triad?
-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)
what are the three negative schemas?
-ineptness schemas (expect to fail)
-self-blame schemas (Responsible for all misfortunes)
-negative self-evaluation schemas (worthlessness)
what are the 4 cognitive biases?
-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)
what are the three aspects of the negative triad?
-the self (see themselves as worthless)
-the world (obstacles that cannot be dealt with)
-the future (personal worthlessness blocking improvements)
what is ellis’ ABC model?
-interpretation of events is what causes distress
what does ABC stand for?
-Activating event (something that happens)
-Belief (what you believe about the A)
-Consequence (emotional response to belief)
what was the explanation put forward by abramson et al 1978?
-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
what was the research conducted by Beevers, Clasen, Stice and Schyner?
-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
research on beck’s explanation
-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
evaluate cognitive explanations of depression
-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
what are the 2 alternative explanations of depression?
-genetic explanation (genetic vulnerability, inheritance, gene-mapping)
-behavioural explanation (depression being learned, lewinsohn - negative life events decline positive reinforcement, can also occur thru SLT)
research on the 2 alternative explanations
-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)
evaluate the 2 alternative explanations
-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
