depression Flashcards
What are some behavioral characteristics of depression?
a change in activity levels- some people experience lethargy and withdrawal from activity the previously enjoyed. Some people become more active and agitated
disruption to sleep- many may have insomnia or require more sleep and oversleep hypersomnia.
disruption to eating behavior- significant change in weight in either direction associated with a large change in appetite.
aggression- people may become more irritable ,physically aggressive and verbally aggressive. They could also be physically aggressive towards themselves and self harm.
What are some emotional characteristics of depression?
low mood- feeling hopeless and sad in an overwhelming way or feeling empty.
feel worthless- People may feel reduced worth and inappropriate feelings of guilt. Low self esteem
Anger- Anger towards others and themselves. depression could lead to them feeling hurt and wanting to retaliate.
What are some cognitive characteristics of depression?
A negative scheme(schema is your expectations)- They can have a negative world view of the future and themselves and they will ignore positive things in life.
poor concentration- They will have difficulty paying attention to things and cannot stay on task for long periods of time. Will take more time making decisions and will have trouble retrieving memories.
What are some cognitive explanations of depression ?
The negative triad
The ABC model
What is the negative Triad?
in 1967 Beck said depressed people have acquired negative schema during childhood for a variety of reasons such as abuse and criticism from adults.
Whenever they are in a new situation that resembles the one that created the negative schema activates.
Such as after after feedback they may believe they are stupid. This is a cognitive bias.
The biases and negative schemas maintain a negative triad about :
The self- I am stupid
The world- nobody likes me
The future- nobody will love me
Evaluation of the negative triad
+)There is research support saying negative thoughts help cause depression such as Terry in 2000 who looked at 65 pregnant woman and the ones who thought negatively where more likely to develop post partum depression.
- ) We don’t know if negative thoughts cause depression or depression develops from a different source and causes negative thoughts.
- ) It doesn’t explain some symptoms such as anger or mania caused by different types of depression.
What is the ABC model?
in 1962 Ellis said that depression is caused by irrational thoughts and beliefs. The ABC model explains how they are formed.
A- Activating event, an event in someone’s life (ie getting fired)
B-Beliefs ,the thoughts after the event which could either be irrational or rational.
C- consequences, the emotions caused by the thoughts with rational beliefs tending to cause healthy emotions such as acceptance while irrational thoughts may cause unhealthy ones such as depression.
Evaluation of the ABC model
+) There is research support with Bates in 1999 finding that depressed people became more depressed when giver negative thought statements, this supports the theory that negative thoughts help cause depression (this is unethical though)
-)It blames the client for having the negative thoughts which could lead to a negative self perception making the depression worse.
What is cognitive behavioral therapy?
It is to challenge negative and irrational thoughts which cognitive psychologists believe are the causes of many mental disorders.
What is the rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT)?, DEF extension
It is a therapy designed by by Ellis as an extension to his ABC model to include DEF, It tries to replace challenging automatic negative thoughts with rational beliefs.
D-challenging irrational thoughts , disputing
E-effects of disputing new thoughts hopefully rational
F-feelings, the new feelings and emotions that are consequences of the rational thoughts.
What are the three types of disputing?
Logical disputing-Dispute illogical beliefs by demonstrating how illogical they are such as saying everyone forgets things if the patient believes they are dumb due to forgetting a coat.
Empirical disputing-Disputing beliefs not consistent with the real world , such as saying the weather is random if someone believes the universe hates them since it rained on their birthday.
pragmatic disputing- challenging beliefs that aren’t helpful for the patient.
Cut/Rebt evaluation
+) After 14 weeks CBT was found to be more effective then drug therapy
+) Ellis said CBT had a 90% success rate but took 27 sessions to complete
-) CBT reeks of patients self reporting which can’t be measured and could be unreliable
-) CBT doesn’t work when high stress levels are caused by realistic stressful situations such as being in debt.
