Paper 1 - Psychopathology - Depression Flashcards
How frequent are mental health problems in the UK?
1 in 6 people in the UK
How many deaths in the UK from suicide in 2021?
Approximately 6320
State the stats about people who have reported that they have suffered from depression?
3.3% in 100
4.8 in 2017 (teenagers)
How are depression and depressive disorders characteristic?
Changes to mood
What are the different categories of depression in the DSM-V?
Give a brief explanation of each?
Major depressive disorder - severe but short term
Persistent depressive disorder - long term or recurring depression including sustained major depression
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder - childhood tantrums
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder - disruption to mood prior to and/or during menstruation
What is unipolar depression?
A subtype of major depression:
An episode of depression that can occur suddenly
It can be reactive - eg after the death of a loved one
Or it can be endogenous - neurological factors
What is bipolar disorder?
A subtype of major depression:
Sufferers are manic and depressive
There is a change of mood in regular cycles
Mania : over-activity, rapid speech, and feeling happy or agitated
What are the emotional characteristics of depression?
Defining emotion element of depression are worthlessness and empty
Lowered mood
Lowered Self esteem
Anger (at self or others)
What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour which can lead to insomnia or hypersomnia and weight gain or loss
Aggression and self harm: can be irritable and this leads to verbal or physical agression
Anxiety levels: feeling lethargic leading to withdraw from work, education and social life
This can also lead to:
Psychomotor agitation: unable to relax and end up pacing
Anhedonia - decreased ability to feel pleasure/lose of interest
What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?
Poor concentration due to rumination of thoughts leading to poor problem solving and decision making skills.
We ruminate on negative thoughts because our cognition becomes more negative. This is further emphasised by absolutist thinking
What are the assumptions in terms of depression of the cognitive approach?
It is the way that you think about the problem rather than the problem itself which causes the mental disorder: distorted and irrational thinking (cause maladaptive behaviours)
- individuals can overcome mental health disorders by learning to use more appropriate cognitions. If people think in a more positive way can be helped to feel better
What were the main 3 things that Beck believed about depression?
Faulty information processing
Negative scheemas
The negative triad
What mental health disorder did Aron Beck work on?
Depression
What did Beck say about faulty information processing?
Beck believed that people who are depressed make fundamental errors in logic
He proposed that depressed people tend to selectively attend to the negative aspects of a stimulus sand ignore the positive aspects
Also that there is a tendency to blow small problems out of proportion with absolutist thinking and ignoring the middle ground
What did Beck believe about negative schemas?
People who become depressed they develop a negative self schema and therefore they interpret all the information about themselves in a negative way
What is the negative triad
Depressed people have a tendency to view themselves, the world and the future in pessimistic ways
Which 2 psychologists studied depression?
Albert Ellis
Aron Beck
What did Ellis propose about mental health?
That good mental health is the result of rational thinking
He argued that people with depression have similar irrational believes and they base their lives on this lead to the ABC model
What was Ellis’ theory?
(The name)
ABC model
In Ellis’ theory what does the A,B and C stand for?
Activating event
Belifs
Consequences
Explain the A in Ellis’ theory?
Activating event
He focused on situations which
Explain the B in Ellis’s theory?
Ellis identified a range of irrational beliefs:
We must always succeed or achieve perfection “mustebation”
Depressed people tend to believe that whenever something doesn’t go smoothly it is a disaster
Depressed people tend to believe in utopianism - life is always ment to be fair
Explain the C in ellis ABC model?
When an activating event triggers irrational beliefs they are emotional and there are behavioural consequences
What are the different evaluations for Beck?
General
Practical applications for CBT
It doesn’t explain all aspects of depression
Explain the evealuation of Beck: general
Much research has been done suggesting that depression is associated with faulty information processing, negative schemas and the triad of impairment
Grazioli and Terry (2000) assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability and depression before and after giving birth
Those high in cognitive vulnerability were more likely to suffer post natal depression
Clark and Beck (1999) they reviewed research on depression and concluded that there were solid support for all these cognitive vulnerability factors as the cognitions can be seen before depression develops
Explain the evaluation for Beck: practical applications for CBT
Beck’s cognitive explanation forms the basis for CBT where all cognitive aspects of depression can be challenged (in CBT)
Explain the evaluation of Beck: it doesn’t explain all aspects of depression
It explains the basics but not everything (it is quite reductionist and doesn’t explain more complex aspects and characteristics of depression)
A complex type of depression:
Cotard syndrome: the delusion that you are a zombie
What are the different evaluations for Ellis’ theory?
It is an incomplete explanation
Practical applications
Cognitive primacy
Attachment and depression
Explain the evaluation of Ellis’ theory: it is an incomplete explanation
Some depression does occur as a result of an activating event (reactive depression)
However, not all depression has an obvious cause
It doesn’t explain the occasional anger aspect of depression or why some patient suffer hallucinations and delusions
Explain the evaluation of Ellis’ theory: practical applications
It has lead to successful therapy (CBT)
Where irrational belies can be challenged which can help reduce depressive symptoms
Explain the evaluation of Ellis’ theory: cognitive primacy
The cognitive explanation of depression assumes that emotions are influenced by the cognition and therefore depression is a cognitive phenomena.
However, other theories assume that emotions are repressed and released latter after a casual event causing depression
Explain the evaluation of Ellis’ theory: attachment and depression
There is a link between insecure attachment to parents and vulnerability to depression in adulthood
In what aproach do Ellis and Becks approach lay ther foundations in?
The cognitive approach
What is the biological approaches explanation of depression?
Evidence to support?
Genes and neurotransmitters cause depression
Successful drug therapies suggest that neurotransmitters play an important role so at the very least it would make sense to consider a diathesis stress model
What is the most commonly used method of treating depression?
CBT
What can CBT be used to treat?
Depression, anxiety, panic, phobia, stress, OCC, PTSD, Bipolar disorder
What approaches is CBT grounded in?
Behavioural and cognitive
What are the aims of a CBT therapist?
To make the client aware of the relationship between thought, emotions and actions
And to change the way that people think and what they do
What is CBT?
A type of psychotherapy which challenges negative thoughts and may include behaviour techniques such as behavioural action.
It is focused on the present and not dwelling on past thoughts.
It can help to break the vicious circle of maladaptive thinking, feeling and behaviour
CBT also aims to get the patient to a point where they can be self supporting
Who developed CBT 2?
Elis
What extends the ABC model and to what?
REBT - Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy.
It adds a D and E
D - dispute (challenge the thoughts)
E - effect (see a more beneficial effect on thoughts and behaviour
What are some common irrational thoughts?
What are the different evaluations of treatments of depression?
It is effective
CBT and drug treatment
Success could be due to the therapist
It may not work for more sever cases
Some patients may want to explore their past
There is an over reliance on cognition
Explain the evaluation of treatments of depression: it is effective
CBT is effective in reducing symptoms and in preventing relapses and there is a large body of evidence to support this
(maren et al. 2007) 327 adolescents. After 36 weeks 81% of both the CBT group and the antidepressants group and 86% of combined treatments showed improved symptoms
Explain the evaluation of treatments of depression: CBT and Drug treatment
Keller et al (2000) recovery rates (from depression)
55% with drugs alone
52% with CBT alone
85% when used together
Explain the evaluation of treatments of depression: it may not work for more severe cases
In some cases patients may not be motivated enough to do therapy
I these cases it is possible to treat with drugs first and then CBT
This is a limitation of CBT as it can’t be used solely in every case
Explain the evaluation of treatments of depression: success could be due to the therapist
Rosenweig (1936)
Research has shown that there is little difference between CBT and other forms of psychotherapy
Therefore it may be due to the quality of the therapist
Explain the evaluation of treatments of depression: some patients may want to explore their past
Depression may be linked to childhood experiences
So so0me people may find the present focus of CBT very frustrating
Explain the evaluation of treatments of depression: there is an over reliance on cognition
There is a risk that in focusing on hat is happening in the mind of the individual may end up minimising the importance of the circumstances the individual is living in
There is therefore an ethical issue for cognition therapists (important to keep in mind that all problems are not in the mind
What does REBT stand for?
Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy
Explain the basis of REBT?
It is bases on the concept that we become upset due to our beliefs that cause us to become anxious, depressed, enraged
Ellis believed that we make impossible and irrational internal demands leading to psychological difficulties
What is REBT?
REBT challenges the client to disprove our internal demands and replace them with more realistic demands
What is the difference between CBT and CBT 2?
The D and E
