Depression Flashcards
What are the 4 categories DSM-5 has of depression
- major depressive disorder: server but short-term depression
- Persistent depressive disorder: long-term recurring depression
- disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: childhood temper tantrums
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: disruption to mood prior/during menstruation
What are 3 behavioural characteristics of depression
- activity levels: reduced energy levels, results in them being lethargic.
- Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour: could suffer insomnia (reduced sleep) or increased need for sleep (hypersomnia). Appetite may increase or decrease leading to weight gain or loss.
- aggression and self harm: often irritable and become verbally or psychically aggressive, could cause aggressive towards self in form of self harm or suicide
What are 3 emotional characteristics of depression
- lowered mood: people feel worthless and empty
- anger: directed at self or others
- lowered self esteem: in extreme cases can cause self loathing
Cognitive characteristics of depression
- poor concentration: unable to stick to a task, unable to make decisions
- dwelling on the negative: glass empty, bias towards recalling unhappy events rather than happy ones (opposite to normal people)
- absolutist thinking: black or white, all good, all bad. When sm is a little bad they might see it as an absolute disaster
How did beck explain depression
Beck (1967) took cognitive approach to explain why some people have depression and some don’t.
Explain Beck self Schema
- A schema is package of ideas and info developed through experience, act as a mental shortcut
- Self scheme is a package of info people have about themselves
- So if someone has a negative self schema they interpret everything abt themselves in a negative way
Explain beck’s faulty information processing (cognitive biases)
When depressed people selectively attend the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positive aspects. Also blow small problems out of proportion. Overgeneralisation , personalisation, selective abstraction (focus on negative aspect only) , magnification, minimisation
Explain beck’s negative triad
Negative triad is negative thinking that causes a dysfunctional view of themselves.
- negative view of the world- no hope anywhere
- negative view of the future- reduce hopefulness
- negative view of the self- enhance depressive feelings cause confirms low self esteem
Evaluation of beck explanation of depression
- research support: Graziolo and Terry assessed 65 pregnant women for cog vulnerability and depression before and after brith. Those with higher cog vulnerability more likely to suffer post-natal depression
- practical application: cohen at el tracked development of 473 adolescences, regularly measuring cognitive vulnerability, it was found that shopping cv predicted later depression. CV can also be applied in CBT by altering the kinds of cognitions that make people feel vulnerable to depression. Means understanding CV has more than one use in clinical practise
- theory explains the basic symptoms of depression however, its a complex disorder with a range of symptom not all of which can be explained eg anger or hallucinations
What did Ellis believe caused depression
Irrational thoughts
Explain A of Ellis ABC
Activating event
The negative event that triggers the irrational belief
Explain B of Ellis ABC
Beliefs
“Musturbation” is the belief that we must always succeed and achieve perfection
“Utopianism” the belief that life is always meant to be fair
Explain C of Ellis ABC
Consequences
The consequences to the irrational belief, eg if someone feels they must always succeed then they fail at sm this may trigger depression
Evaluate Ellis ABC model
- practical applications: led to successful therapy. If the irrational beliefs are challenged then this can help reduce depressive symptoms. Means irrational beliefs must have some role in depression
- offers only a partial explanation: some depression occurs as a result of an activating event (reactive depression) however not all depression arises from an obvious case. Also doesn’t explain why some initials experience anger and hallucinations
- Alloy and Abramson (1979) said depressive realists see things for what they are whereas normal people see the world through rose tinted glasses. Found depressed people give more accurate estimated of the likelihood of disaster than normal people. So “irrational thoughts”??
Explain becks cognitive therapy
- identify thoughts about the world, self and future (negative triad) and then challenge them
- also test reality of these beliefs, might be set HW such as record when someone was nice to you, and if they client said no one was then to therapist can produce evidence to prove the client wrong
Explain Ellis therapy
REBT (rational emotive behavioural therapy), extend the ABC model to ABCDE (dispute, effect).
- aim of REBT is to identify and dispute irrational thoughts
- eg a client would talk abt how unfair evething seems and the therapist would say that is Utopianism and challenge the irrational belief.
- this would lead to a vigorous argument and it would hopefully change the belief and break the link between negative life events and depression
- empirical argument= is there actual evidence to support this belief
- logical argument= does the though actually follow the facts
Explain Behavioural activation as a treatment for depression
- as people become depressed they tend to avoid difficult situations and become isolated with worsens symptoms
- the goal of BA is to gradually decrease the avoidance and isolation, and increase engagement in activities that have been shown to improve mood eg exercise, going out for dinner
Evaluation of treatment: evidence
- lots of evidence supporting CBT
- John march et al compared CBT to anti depressant drugs and a combination of both to 327 depressed adolescents
- After 36 weeks CBT group 81% of the just CBT and just drugs group had significantly improved. And 86% of both group improved. Shows CBT is just as effective as drugs.
- Also usually only requires 6-12 session so relativity cost effective
Evaluation of treatments: diversity
- not suitable for clients with severe cases cause clients are so depressed they can’t motivate themselves to engage in CBT.
- Also the hard cognitive work involved in CBT may not be suitable for clients with learning disabilities.
- CBT may only be appropriate for specific range of people with depression
Evaluation of treatments: relapse
- High relapse rates
- although CBT good at tackling symptoms benefits don’t last
- Shehzad Ali et al assessed 439 depressed clients every month for 12 months after a course of CBT. 42% of the clients relapsed into depression within six months, and 53% of clients relapsed within a year
- means CBT may need to be repeated periodically
