lesson 10 treating depression CBT

Question 1

cognitive behavioural therapy

Answer 1

-central idea to challenge and restructure negative ways of thinking so that they become more positive and rational
-individuals or small groups, weekly sessions, with highly trained therapist, to overcome negative thinking
-allows patients to have some control over their thinking, focuses on present experiences
-negative thoughts associated with depression are challenged, believed that positive thinking will positively impact behaviour
-use cognitive triad as basis for therapy
-patients encouraged to identify their negative thoughts- thought catching, and challenge/test them out
-encouraged to keep record of events in their life that can be used to help challenge their negative thinking
-reinforcement of positive thoughts is encouraged

Question 2

CBT ao3

Answer 2

-very effective to use when a client has mild depression, stops it from getting much worse, more applicable to those with mild smyptoms, others may need more servere such as medication
-anti-depressants are most popular treatment, require less effort, Cujipers (2013) found that cbt can be very effective when combined with drug therapy
-widely respected and supported by vasts amount of research, cost effective treatment for many disorders in NHS, economical
-praised as it tends to get to root cause of depression, uncovers real underlying issues, others such as medication tend not to get to root cause but masks symptoms
-can be used as long term cure, long lasting positive outcomes, high chance patient has actually been cured and less likely to suffer relapse compared to other treatments
-cost effective as it means a depressed patient that has successfully completed cbt are very unlikely to return to hospital and need further treatment in the future, low relapse rates

Question 3

rational emotive behavioural therapy ao1

Answer 3

-Ellis 1975
-irrational thoughts cause negative self-statements so therapy involves making depressed clients think in a more rational and positive manner, told to practice positive and optimistic thinking which can have a positive impact on their behaviour
-challenges negative thoughts by interpreting the ABC model in a positive and logical way

Question 4

REBT stages/process

Answer 4

Disputing irrational thoughts and behaviour- logical disputing occurs when self defeating beliefs do not follow logically from the information available, the therapist can ask the depressed client challenging questions, thoughts can be disputed by empirical disputing whereby self defeating thoughts may not be consistent with reality
Effects of disputing and effective attitude to life- can change self defeating beliefs into more rational beliefs, depressed client can move away from negative and irrational thinking to more rational interpretations of events
Feelings/emotions- depressed patient will begin to think in a more positive and rational way and they will begin to feel better, can have a positive impact on their behaviour

Question 5

REBT ao3

Answer 5

-Flannaghan et al (1997) supports use of rebt as an effective treatment for depressive stroke victims, suggests rebt is suitable treatment for specific groups of people with depression and help them become more positive over time
-David (2008) compared 170 depressive patients who had 14 weeks of rebt and compared them to depressive patients who were treated with fluoxetine, outcomes were compared 6 months after treatment ended, found that rebt was better long term treatment for depression compared to drugs
-unclear if distorted negative thinking is the cause of merely a symptom, if so then rebt is not tackling the root cause and might return in future, not cured properly
-dependent on depressed clients being able to articulate and talk about thought processes coherently, therefore would not work for people with servere depression unable to communicate properly or uncomfortable talking about feelings with a psychologist
-success of treatment depends upon the skill and expertise of the therapist, better therapeutic outcomes for client, essential for treatment effectiveness, need to be highly skilled and develop a good rapport with their client for rebt to be successful