L8+L9+L10 Psychopathology Flashcards
Criteria for depression diagnosis L8
At least 5 symptoms must be present every day for 2 weeks
5 symptoms must include sadness or loss of interest and pleasure in normal activities
Person will show impairment in general functioning that has not been caused by other events (death of loved one)
Behavioural Characteristics of Depression L8
- Shift in energy levels = fatigue, lethargy, high levels of inactivity, withdraw from social life and work, education as a result = depressed people be restless and agitated, high amts of nervous energy (psychomotor agitation)
- Social Impairments = reduced levels social interaction, friends and relatives, distance from friends and family
- Weight changes = significant increase or decrease of weight, may eat a lot, put on a lot of weight, or have reduced diet and eat very little, reduce lot of weight
- Poor personal hygiene= reduced incidence of washing, wearing clean clothes etc..
- Sleep pattern disturbance = constant insomnia, difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep and waking up very early, or may require large amount of sleep, hypersomnia
- Aggression and self harm= often irritable, become physically and verbally aggressive, eg. Quitting their job impulsively, may also be physically aggressive, self harming, cutting themselves, attempting suicide
Emotional characteristics of depression (feelings) L8
- Loss of enthusiasm= lessened concern or pleasure in daily activities, hobbies or things they used to enjoy
- Constant depressed mood = ever present and overwhelming feelings of sadness / hopelessness, feeling empty
- Worthlessness = constant feelings of reduced worth and / or inappropriate feelings of guilt, may also feel very low feelings of self esteem
- Anger = anger directed towards others or inwards, towards the self, could result in self harm, and depression may arise from feelings of being hurt, wishing to retaliate
Cognitive Characteristics of Depression L8 (thinking) L8
- Delusions = experience delusions, generally concerning guilt, punishment, personal inadequacy, disease, also experience hallucinations (auditory, visual, olfactory (smell), haptic (touch))
- Reduced Concentration= difficult to pay attention or maintain attention, person feel they cant stay on task for long periods of time, may have slower thought processes, than normal, difficulty making decisions, interfering with persons ability to do their job
- Thoughts of death = constant thoughts of death and / or suicide, world would be better place without them, make plans to end their life
- Poor memory = trouble retrieving memories, memory might be very poor in general
- **Negative thinking (big part) **= often have negative view of the world, expect things to turn out badly, rather than well, tend to have negative expectations, about their lives, and relationships, and world in general
Leads to self fulfilling prophecy if you expect negative things to happen, they will probably happen, positive factors ignored, have a cognitive bias - Absolutist thinking= most situations not all bad or good, sufferers think in the format that events are in absolutist terms, “complete disaster” rather than quite good with a few things that could have went better
L9 what is the cognitive model to explaining depression
The cognitive model proposes that individuals who are suffering from depression often have distorted and negative thinking. People who think in a very negative or irrational way might be more prone to developing the illness of depression
L9 Cognitive Triad by Beck : Introduction
Beck believes people become depressed because they have a negative outlook and develop negative schemas, dominate their thinking
These negative schemas often develop in childhood whereby parents or adults have been overly critical towards them
Negative schemas continue into adulthood and provide negative framework, life is viewed in a negative way, which could cause depressive thoughts
L9 Cognitive Triad = examples of negative schemas
Self blame = depressed people feel that they are responsible for all misfortunes
Ineptness = depressed people expect themselves to fail at everything
Could cause depression, and faulty negative thinking can lead to depression and possible suicidal tendencies
The Cognitive Triad explains thought processes that a depressed person might develop
L9 : Stages of Cognitive Triad
Stage one : negative thoughts about self
Person has negative thoughts about themselves, might feel worthless ans helplessness. They criticise themselves at every opportunity, eg. “I am useless and I am no good at Maths”
Stage two : negative thoughts about the world
Person has negative thoughts that extend to the wider world, around them. Negative and distorted thinking continues on larger scale “i am useless at everything i do”, statement becomes more global and negative
Stage three : negative thoughts about the future
Person begins to think negatively, about their future, which may seem bleak, and negative, this can cause low self esteem.
Person thinks negatively, gets depressed about the future, eg. “I will always be useless at everything i do, this will never improve”
Such negative thinking according to Beck’s cognitive triad, can lead to suicidal thoughts that initially been caused by negative thinking
L9 evaluation of cognitive approach by beck
+ = it has become very influential in Psychology during last 30 years, especially as theory has been based on sound experimental research that is objective and permits testing
Seems that distorted and negative thoughts are very common amongst patients who have depression, these negative thoughts are very common amongst patients who have depression, and these negative thoughts play key role in development of illness
- = cause and effect is not clear. Can we say that negative and irrational thoughts cause depression to develop, or could we say that depression develops first, from different source, and this then causes patient to think in negative and irrational way? Cause ans effect needs to be investigated, further, so psychologists can be sure that negative thinking causes depression to occur
+ = great deal of supporting evidence, suggest that depression is caused by negative and irrational thinking, as well as cognitive triad. Terry (2000) assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability and depression before and after birth. It was found that women who had high congitive vulnerability ( to think negatively ) were more likely to suffer post natal depression
This supports the cognitive approach that negative thinking can cause depression
- = Becks theory can be criticised, because it does not explain how some symptoms of depression might develop, some depressed patients show symptoms of anger, hallucinations, bizarre beliefs (cotard syndrome where patients believes they are a zombie). Becks theory fails to account for how these symptoms of depression occur
L9 Ellis’ ABC Model intro
Ellis proposed depression is caused by irrational beliefs
He devised ABC model to explain how irrational and negative beliefs are formed ABC model to explain how irrational and negative beliefs are formed
L9 ABC model steps
A = Activating Event
Patients record events leading to negative thinking, triggered by event in environment around them (eg. Exam failure). Activating event has negative effect on mood and outlook
B= Beliefs
Patients record thoughts associated with the event, (rational / irrational), example of that by thinking they are useless and stupid for failing an exam. Examples might be recording thoughts in a diary or journal, so they can keep track of their thinking
C = consequences
Patients record emotional response to their beliefs, irrational beliefs lead to negative emotions, such as feeling upset
Consequences could be debated with many different options eg. “If i fail maths and i feel im not good at it, consequences would be that i feel upset, useless and demotivated, could lead to me dropping out of the school or course”
mustabatory thinking
Ellis identified that this can cause irrational and negative thinking, can be emotionally damaging and can lead to depression
These include “i must be loved by everyone”, “i must excel in all areas”, an individual who holds these beliefs is bound to be disappointed or depressed, because these thoughts are too idealistic and expectations are too high
L9 Evaluation of Ellis’ ABC model
+ = research support, of ellis’ abc model as cause of depression. Bates (1999) found that depressed pps who were given negative thought statements become more and more depressed, supporting the view that negative thinking helps to cause depression
If psychologists know what causes depression (negative thinking), then this can help provide effective treatments for curing depression (turning negative thoughts into positive ones)
- = Disadvantage is that its not clear whether negative thinking actually causes depression, could be that depression occurs first, biology or genetics, and this causes the person to think in a negative and irrational way. Cause and effect needs to be established when looking at causes of depression
+ = ABC model of depression based on sound scientific evidence, permits objective testing, allows improvement of the model, greater understanding of cause of depression as a whole
- = disadvantage is that it blames client when looking at causes for depression, and although it gives the client some power to change the situation and improve depression symptoms, it means that situational factors that may have helped depression developed are overlooked, (family problems)
Instead psychologist would examine negative and irrational thoughts alone as cause of depression
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy by Beck
Central idea is to challenge and restructure negative ways of thinking, so they become more positive and rational
CBT used on individual patients and small groups
Allows patient to have some control over thinking
Focuses on present experiences
Therapist needs to be highly trained
Help depressed to think in more positive way, positively influence their behaviour
Thought that + thinking will have + impact on behaviour, both of these linked together
Negative thoughts associated with depression are challenged
Beck uses cognitive triad, as basis for his cognitive behavioural therapy (- thoughts about self, world and future addressed)
Patients encouraged to challenge their negative thoughts, test them out, eg. Is it really the case that you are useless at all subjects in school? This cannot be true because…
Patient must test out negative thinking / hypotheses, act as scientist
Patients encouraged to keep record of events in life that can be used to help challenge their negative thinking eg. Diary entried, test results etc..
Reinforcement of + thoughts is encouraged eg. + thinking makes someone feel good about themselves
Patients attend weekly sessions either independently on own or in a group, group therapy, in order to overcome negative thinking
Evaluation of CBT by Beck
Strength is that it is ver effective to use when a client has mild depression, CBT stops mild depression from getting much worse, therefore more applicable to clients who had mild depressive symptoms rather than severe symptoms. If depression is very severe then drugs / medication might be more appropriate than CBT +/-
- most popular treatment for depression is anti depressant drugs, as they require less effort than CBT in general, but Cujipers (2013) found that CBT can be very effective if combined with drug therapy, therefore when used on its own to treat depression is not very effective, drugs should be used alongside it
+ = advantage is that its widely respected and supported by vast amounts of research as a therapy for depression. Its offered as a cost effective treatment for many disorders by NHS in britain, esp for depression. Treatment is quite economical compared to other treatments such as Psychodynamic approach
+ = CBT praised because it tends to get to root cause of depressive problem. Usually CBT can uncover real underlying issues that caused depression in first place such as job loss, divorce etc..
This is very good point, other treatments for depression such as medication and drugs tend not to get to root cause of problem of depression, but merely act as “plaster” cover up and mask depression symptoms, therefore CBT actually works as cure for depression
Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (AO1) by Ellis
REBT was developed by Ellis (1975)
Irrational thoughts also cause negative self statements and so therapy involves making depressed clients thinking in more rational + positive manner
Therapist aims to challenge depressed patients thinking, show them how irrational their thoughts are
Depressed patients told to practice positive + optimistic thinking, then have positive impact on behaviour
REBT involves challenging neg thoughts by reinterpreting ABC model in more + and logical way (eg. Exam was difficult or client didnt spend enough time revising rather than them believing they are stupid and useless)
Homework = depressed clients asked to complete homework assignments between therapy sessions, vital for testing irrational beliefs in real world, replacing them with more rational and + beliefs
Behavioural Activation = CBT encourages depressed clients become more active, engage in pleasurable activities, many depressed clients often do not engage in activities that they used to enjoy, so therapist would encourage active participation
