Depression

Question 1

How to diagnose depression

Answer 1

5 symptoms must be present everyday for 2 weeks

Question 2

Behavioural characteristics (action)

Answer 2

Shift in energy/ activity levels - withdraw from life and nervous energy
Social impairment - less social interactions
Weight changes - severe increase or decrease
Poor personal hygiene - washing/ clean clothes
Sleep pattern disturbance - insomnia and hypersomnia
Aggression and self harm - Irritable and physically/ verbally aggressive, impulsive

Question 3

Emotional characteristics (feelings)

Answer 3

Less enthusiasm - pleasure in activities
Depressed mood - overwhelming sad/ hopeless
Worthlessness - guilt, esteem, worth
Anger - directed out or inwards, potential harm

Question 4

Cognitive characteristics (thinking)

Answer 4

Delusions - guilt, inadequacy, hallucinations
Reduced concentration - attention, slow thoughts, ability to e.g jobs
Thoughts of death - suicide, plans, better world without them
Poor memory - retrieval struggle
Negative thinking - expect things to end up bad - self fulfilling prophecy
Absolutist thinking - all good or all bad

Question 5

Cognitive approach to explaining depression

Answer 5

People who think in a negative or irrational way are more prone to depression

Question 6

Beck (1960)

Answer 6

Cognitive triad - negative schema and outlook which grows with age - negative view of life so depressive thoughts
e.g self blame - everything responsible
or ineptness - expecting to fail everything

Question 7

Cognitive triad

Answer 7

Negative thoughts about self - bad at maths
Negative thoughts about world - generalisation - bad at everything
Negative thoughts about future - will always be bad at everything
Leads to negative outlook and suicidal thoughts

Question 8

Cognitive approach eval

Answer 8

+Very influential and objectively based on research - widely accepted
-Cause and effect unclear - do negative thoughts cause depression or other way around - needs further investigation
+ criticises behavioural approach which suggests learning and environment - but cognitive accounts for thinking - perhaps can be combined in CB approach as a more complete version
+ Bates (1999) gave depressed people negative thought statements causing more depression if psychologists know what negative thinking is at the root, it can help treat it
- Ignores biological factors and genes - such as low levels of serotonin may cause depression, or certain genes make depression more likely - cognitive is incomplete

Question 9

Beck cognitive triad eval

Answer 9

+ Research evidence - Terry (2000) assessed 65 pregnant women and cognitive vulnerability linked to post natal depression - supports idea of negative and generalised thinking
- Doesn’t explain or account for some symptoms like anger hallucinations and beliefs e.g cotard syndrome believing to be a zombie

Question 10

Ellis

Answer 10

proposed irrational beliefs lead to depression
as well as mustabatory thinking e.g ‘i must be loved by everyone’ which is damaging - idea of being perfect
proposed the ABC model to explain depressiom

Question 11

ABC model

Answer 11

A - Activating event - negative events leading to negative consequences on mood - failing exam
B - beliefs - thoughts associated with event - rational/ irrational - thinking you are useless, might involve thought journal track thinking
C - consequences - emotional response - e.g feeling upset, demotivated which could expand to other events e.g skipping school

Question 12

Ellis ABC model eval

Answer 12

• Blames the client when looking at causes - may lead to a focus on negative thoughts and overlooking e.g situational factors like family
  + Based on sound scientific evidence and makes objective testing easy - to help improve model and understanding causes of depression as a whole
  + Supporting evidence that people who are adult depression likely had insecure attachments - linking to ABC like activating event

Question 13

cognitive behavioural therapy by Beck

Answer 13

highly trained therapist tries to change a patient/ small group negative thinking to positive rational to influence the behaviour well, focusing on present experiences and giving patient control of their own thinking

Question 14

how CBT works

Answer 14

uses cognitive triad as basis - negative thoughts identified in thought catching diaries - encouraged to test negative thoughts out - i cannot be useless at school as I got a B in psych - act as a scientist using hypotheses to test validity - keep an event record that proves presence of positivity e.g test results - positive reinforcement is encouraged as positive thinking makes people feel good about self

Question 15

CBT Beck eval

Answer 15

+ Very effective with mild depression as stops getting worse
- But for severe symptoms maybe drugs better
- Cujipers (2013) found CBT is most effective paired with drugs so perhaps not best alone
+ Widely respected and objectively researched - used to save money by NHS for treatment
+ tends to get to the root cause because it reaches root events and treats rather than e.g drugs which just cover up depression
+ good long term cure and relapse unlikely - cost effective and effective treatment
- relies on skill of therapist - and with it lots of training is likely required and time

Question 16

rational emotive behavioural therapy by Ellis

Answer 16

irrational thoughts cause negative self statement so thoughts changed to rational positive - challenge depressed thinking to show irrationality, then told to practice optimistic thinking to benefit behaviour - reinterprets ABC model positively e.g failing test because it was hard not because you are useless

Question 17

How does REBT work

Answer 17

Disputes thoughts and behaviour - logically when beliefs dont follow from info - does thinking this way make sense? - or empirically where you target the lack of evidence and inconsistency with reality - do you have proof everyone hates you? - patients given homework to test and replace irrational beliefs in real life - rational beliefs form e.g they didn’t reply cuz they are busy - thinking more positively means they will feel better and benefit behaviour - behavioural activation encouraging activity and engagement in fun activities and old hobbies - active participation will bring joy

Question 18

Ellis (1975) REBT eval

Answer 18

+ Flannaghan et al (1997) supports REBT for depressive stroke victims - suggests suitability for specific groups to improve over time
+ Research evidence - David (2008) compared 170 REBT 14 week patients to drug fluoxetine patients - after 6 months REBT much better
- unclear if negative thinking is root cause or just a symptom - if a symptom then REBT wont tackle the root cause and it might return - incomplete cure method
- dependent of articulation and sharing of clients - would fail if people uncomfortable/ unable to communicate properly - other treatments required
- success depends on skill and expertise of therapist being able to build a rapport and effectively work to challenge beliefs