Depression- psychopathology Flashcards
what is depression?
- a mood disorder which is characterised by feelings of sadness and a general withdrawal from social interactions
what are the 2 types of depression?
REACTIVE=
reaction to stressful events outside of ourselves, eg death of someone close
ENDOGENOUS=
depression that’s thought to have risen from within the person, independent of external events, usually v severe and harder to treat
3 behavioural characteristics to depression are…
ACTIVITY LEVELS=
- reduced levels of energy
-withdraw from work, education, social life, some can’t get out of bed
- or… psychomotor agitation, c=struggle to relax, pace
DISRUPTION TO EATING AND SLEEPING BEHAVIOUR=
- reduced sleep (insomnia)
- increased sleep (hypersomnia)
-appetite and eating may increase or decrease, leading to weight loss or weight gain
AGGRESSION AND SELF HARM=
-physically or verbally aggressive
-physical aggression directed against the self
- includes self harm, often in the form of cutting or suicide attempts
3 emotional characteristics of depression….
LOWERED MOOD=
- patients describe themselves as ‘worthless’ and ‘empty’
ANGER=
- at the self or others
-lead to aggressive or self harming behaviour
LOWERED SELF ESTEEM
-self esteem is the emotional experience of how much we like ourselves, sufferers tend to have a decreased self esteem
- self loathing
3 cognitive characteristics of depression….
POOR CONCENTRATION
- unable to stick to tasks they usually would
- find it hard to make decisions they’d normally find straight forward
- this is likely to interfere with the individuals work
ATTENDING TO AND DWELLING ON THE NEGATIVE=
- pay more attention to negative aspects of the situation
-ignore positives
-bias towards recalling unhappy events rather than happy ones
ABSOLUTIST THINKING=
- ‘ black and white thinking’
- when a situation is unfortunate, sufferers see it as an absolute disaster
What are the 3 components to Beck’s negative triad?
- negative views of the self as worthless and helpless
- negative views of the world
-negative view of the future
—> as the 3 interact, they interfere with normal cognitive processing. a person can become obsessed with automatic negative thoughts or schemas. faulty cognitions lead to depression
AO3 Beck’s negative triad
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
- CBT is a successful therapy
- assessing cognitive vulnerability allows psychologists to screen young people to identify those most at risk of depression
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
- grazioli and terry—> assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability before and after birth. the women who had the highest vulnerability were likely to experience post-natal depression
CORRELATIONS DON’T IMPLY CAUSALITY
- some depressed people do view the world in the way beck believes
- but , depressed feelings and logical errors could be a result of something else like a biochemical imbalance, negative terms may be the result of having depression not the cause of it
Ellis’ ABC model, what are irrational thoughts?
- he suggested that good mental health was a result of rational thinking
- thinking in a way that allows people to be happy and free of pain
irrational thoughts= any thoughts that interfere with us being happy and free of pain
Ellis’ ABC model- what does each letter stand for ?
A= ACTIVATING EVENT
- irrational thoughts triggered by an external event
B=BELIEF
-identified a range of irrational beliefs, eg
musturbation= believe that we must always succeed and achieve perfection
utopianism= belief that life is always meant to be fair
I-cant-stand-it-itis= belief that it’s a major disaster when something doesn’t go smoothly
C=CONSEQUENCES
- when an activating event causes irrational beliefs, there are emotional and behavioural consequences
AO3- ellis model
PARTIAL EXPLANATION
-explains reactive depression but not endogenous
ETHICAL ISSUES
- locates blame for depression with the sufferer
- critics say this is blaming the depressed person which is unfair
PRACTICAL APPLICATION (REBT)
- led to successful therapy
-by challenging irrational beliefs, a person can reduce their depression
-supports the basic theory as it suggests that the irrational thoughts had some role in the depression
AO1 overview of CBT to treat depression
- assessment in which patient and therapist work to identify patients problems
- identify goals and put together a plan to achieve them
- identify whether there are any irrational beliefs that will benefit from challenge
- CBT then works to change the negative and irrational thoughts and put more effective behaviours into place
CBT- becks cognitive theory
- identify negative triad
- challenge these thoughts
- helps patients to test the realist of their negative beliefs
- may be set ‘homework’ such as to record when they enjoyed an event——–>means that therapist can produce evidence to challenge the patients statements
CBT- Ellis’ rational emotive behaviour therapy
- ABCDE model
- D= dispute
- E= effect
- therapists challenge irrational beliefs, can involve vigorous arguments
- intended effect is to change the irrational belief and so break the link between negative life events and depression
