Explaining Depression Flashcards
What are the 2 explanations of depression?
1) Becks cognitive theory of depression
2) Ellis’s ABC model
Beck’s cognitive theory of depression
American psychiatrist Aaron Beck (1967) suggested a cognitive approach to explain why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others. In particular it is a person’s cognitions that create this vulnerability, i.e. the way they think.
Beck suggested 3 parts to this cognitive vulnerability:
1) Faulty information processing
2) Negative self-schemas
3) The negative triad
1) Faulty information processing
When depressed, we attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives. For example, if I was depressed and won £1 million on the lottery, I might focus on the fact that the previous week, someone had won £10 million rather than focus on the positives of all I could do with £1 million. We also tend to blow small problems out of proportion and think in ‘black and white’ terms.
2) Negative self-schemas
A schema is a ‘package’ of ideas and information developed through experience. They act as a mental framework for the interpretation of sensory information. A self-schema is the package of information we have about ourselves. We use schemas to interpret the world, so if we have a negative self-schema, we interpret all information about ourselves in a negative way.
3) The negative triad
A person develops a dysfunctional view of themselves because of three types of negative thinking that occur automatically, regardless of the reality of what is happening at the time. These three elements are called the negative triad. When we are depressed, negative thoughts about the world, the future and oneself often come to us.
a) Negative view of the world - an example would be ‘the world is a cold hard place’. This creates the impression that there is no hope anywhere.
b) Negative view of the future - an example would be ‘there isn’t much chance that the economy will really get better’. Such thoughts reduce any hopefulness and enhance depression.
c) Negative view of the self - an example would be ‘I am a failure’. Such thoughts enhance any existing depressive feelings because they confirm the existence of low self-esteem.
Strength - Beck
point: Beck’s cognitive explanation of depression has significant practical applications, especially in the development of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
evidence: CBT identifies and challenges the dysfunctional perspectives that underlie depression within the negative triad. This is supported by research evidence. March et al. (2007). found that CBT was as effective as antidepressants, in treating depression. The researchers examined 327 adolescents with a diagnosis of depression and looked at the effectiveness of CBT, antidepressants and a combination of CBT plus antidepressants. After 36 weeks, 81% of the antidepressants group and 81% of the CBT group had significantly improved, demonstrating the effectiveness of CBT in treating depression. However, 86% of the CBT plus antidepressant group had significantly improved, suggesting that a combination of both treatments may be more effective. This displays how Beck’s explanation can be incorporated into effective treatment plans for sufferers of depression. Furthermore, the practicality of this explanation extends to economic and societal elements. If fewer people are suffering from depression, they will feel more inclined to attend work and maintain productivity, thus preventing financial loss within an economy.
justification: This increases the credibility of Beck’s explanation of depression as it demonstrates how an individual’s depression is often rooted in cognitive complications and how this information can then be translated into the development of treatments such as CBT. Therefore, having a favourable impact on people’s lives whilst also reducing financial loss caused by absenteeism from depression.
Strength - Beck
point: Beck’s cognitive theory of depression is supported by research.
evidence: Grazioli and Terry assessed 65 pregnant women on their cognitive vulnerability and found that women they deemed to be more vulnerable were more likely to suffer with postnatal depression. This supports Beck’s theory as it highlights how negative thought patterns, such as those displayed in the negative triad, can predict the onset of depression before symptoms emerge.
justification: This increases the validity of Beck’s explanation of depression as it strengthens the claim that dysfunctional beliefs and conditions play a significant role in the development of depression. This can lead to the initiation of preventative interventions like CBT to to target negative thought patterns before depression fully emerges.
counter-argument: However, this research has been criticised for its sample.
evidence: Grazioli and Terry’s research only examined 65 pregnant women. Although this is a fairly adequate sample size. The idea of only women, particularly pregnant women, being assessed, creates a level of gender bias therefore limiting its generalisability. The findings may not be applicable to children, men or women who aren’t pregnant as it assumes that the cognitive vulnerability exhibited in pregnant women is the same in all cases of depression. It doesn’t consider how the pregnancy itself could be an exclusive factor which influences cognitive vulnerability.
justification: Therefore this lowers the population validity of this study as whilst it supports the predictive power of Beck’s explanation, the gender-biased nature of the sample limits generalisability to different demographics.
Weakness - Beck
point: Beck’s explanation of depression is criticised for being incomplete as it does not account for all aspects of the disorder.
evidence: Although the theory explains cognitive symptoms, such as negative thought patterns, it fails to address the wide range of emotional, physical and behavioural symptoms that inevitably accompany depression. For example, patients will often experience multiple emotions with depression, from anger to irritability, which is not taken into consideration by Beck’s theory. Furthermore, sufferers may get hallucinations or bizarre beliefs caused by other delusions, such as Cotard Syndrome, whereby individuals believe they are dead or do not exist.
justification: As a result, this suggests that Beck’s theory is limited in its applicability as it only provides a partial explanation of depression. Therefore, a more holistic approach is needed to fully account for the complexity and variability of the disorder and to allow for a more tailored form of therapy to suit the diverse needs of individuals suffering from depression.
Weakness - Beck
point: A weakness of Beck’s theory is its overreliance on the cognitive aspect of depression.
evidence: Although the foundation of Beck’s theory is based on the cognitive elements that lead to depression, it completely disregards individuals whose depression is rooted in other factors. For instance, biological factors, such as imbalances in neurotransmitters or genetic predispositions, which are strongly associated with depression. For example, research has shown that low levels of serotonin can play a crucial role in the onset of depressive symptoms. Such symptoms are beyond the scope of Beck’s theory which focuses predominantly on cognitive distortions and fails to account for biological, neurological or other contributing factors.
justification: This suggests that Beck’s theory is limited in its applicability and explanatory power as it only considers the type of depression that arises as a result of cognitive vulnerability and a dysfunctional view of oneself. It portrays this theory as reductionist as it oversimplifies a complex condition through basing it solely on cognition therefore emphasising the need for a more holistic approach, integrating alternative approaches, such as cognitive, biological and environmental to allow for a more comprehensive understanding of depression.
Ellis’s ABC model
- American psychiatrist, Albert Ellis (1962) suggested a different cognitive explanation of depression.
- He proposed that good mental health is the result of rational thinking, defined as thinking in ways that allow people to be happy and free of pain.
- To Ellis, conditions like anxiety and depression (poor mental health) result from irrational thoughts. Ellis defined irrational thoughts, not as illogical or unrealistic thoughts, but as any thoughts that interfere with us being happy and free of pain.
- Ellis used the ABC model to explain how irrational thoughts affect our behaviour and emotional state.
- It is the irrational beliefs which trigger the response, not the event itself.
A - Activating event
Whereas Beck’s emphasis was on automatic thoughts, Ellis focused on situations in which irrational thoughts are triggered by external events. According to Ellis, we get depressed when we experience negative events and these trigger irrational beliefs. Events like failing an important test or ending a relationship might trigger irrational beliefs.
B - Beliefs
Ellis identified a range of irrational beliefs. He called the belief that we must always succeed or achieve perfection ‘musturbation’. ‘I-can’t-stand-it-itis’ is the belief that it is a major disaster whenever something does not go smoothly. Utopianism is the belief that life is always meant to be fair.
C - Consequences
When an activating event triggers irrational beliefs, there are behavioural and emotional consequences. For example, if you believe you must always succeed and then fail at something, this can trigger depression.
Strength - Ellis
One strength of the cognitive explanation for depression is its application to therapy. The cognitive ideas have been used to develop effective treatments for depression, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) (supported by Lipsky et al) and Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), which was developed from Ellis’s ABC model. These therapies attempt to identify and challenge negative, irrational thoughts and have been successfully used to treat people with depression, providing further support to the cognitive explanation of depression
Strength - Ellis
There is research evidence which supports the cognitive explanation of depression. Boury et al. (2001) found that patients with depression were more likely to misinterpret information negatively (cognitive bias) and feel hopeless about their future (negative triad), which supports different components of Beck’s theory and the idea that cognitions are involved in depression.
Weakness - Ellis
Ellis’s explanation of depression is criticised for being a partial explanation and alternatives might be better. Some cases of depression follow activating events. This is called reactive depression and is seen as different from the kind of depression that arises without cause. This matters as it doesn’t consider all types of depression. Only the depression that is activated by some sort of event.
Weakness - Ellis
