Psychology (Unipolar Depression: Psychological explanation) Flashcards
Who proposed the psychological explanation?
Beck
What do cognitive theorists suggest depression comes from?
from maladaptive, faulty, or irrational cognitions taking the form of distorted thoughts and judgements.
From what can depressive cognitions occur? (2)
Depressive cognitions can be learned socially (observationally) as this is the case when children in a dysfunctional family, watch their parents being unable to cope with stressful experiences or traumatic events.
Depressive cognitions can also result from a lack of experiences that would hinder the development of adaptive coping skills.
What is Faulty information processing proposed by Beck?
Faulty information processing - They would have a very negative bias when thinking, seeing only the negatives in a good thing or seeing the situation more negatively than it actually is.
Depressed people pay selective attention to aspects of their environments that confirm what they already know and do so even when evidence to the contrary is right in front of them.
What are depressive cognitions proposed by Beck?
Depressive cognitions are schemas that we have about something, we might have developed a negative self schema in childhood e.g peers, parents or teacher are always criticising you. This can lead to negative biases and overgeneralizations of when someone else criticizes you, triggering childhood memories.
What does Beck say about negative thoughts?
According to Beck, negative thoughts, generated by dysfunctional beliefs are typically the primary cause of depressive symptoms. As there is a direct link between the severity of someone’s negative thoughts and the severity of their symptoms.
What are the 3 main belief schemas depressive people seem to have according to Beck?
There are three main belief themes / schemas that dominate depressed people’s minds: I am defective or inadequate - everything I do experiences in defects or failures - the future is hopeless.
Outline the 3 negative triad concepts
E.g Negative views about the world “Everybody hates me because I am worthless” Generalizations about the world have to do with everybody else.
E.g Negative views about the future “I’ll never be good at anything because everyone hates me”
E.g Negative views about oneself “I am worthless”
What are silent assumptions?
He believes that the inner life of depressed people is dominated by a set of assumptions that shape conscious cognitions. Examples of silent assumptions: ‘I must get people’s approval’, ‘I must do things perfectly’, ‘I must always be valued by others’, ‘The world must be fair and just’. These types of beliefs are not particularly unusual. What makes depression-prone people different is the extent to which they subscribe to them.
Evaluate Becks theory in terms of positives
Cultural differences: Can account for why depression is not so apparent in some collectivist cultures where the norm is to play down individual success and exhibit something more akin to Beck’s idea of a depressive attributional style
(Supporting Becks Attributional Depression style).
Gender differences: Notman and Nadelson (1995) suggest the theory can account for why women are 40% more likely to suffer from depression than men; they are socialised to play down their strengths, one could say they are taught to use a depressive attributional style.
Real-world applications: Has inspired research which has led to development of effective therapies (CBT) which are easily administered.
Individual differences: Recognises that faulty thinking strategies and negative schemas can result from differing childhood experiences
Evaluate Becks Theory in terms of negatives
ignores the fact that real external factors could be causing depression; not just a person’s perception of events; this seems to cast blame on sufferer for ‘blowing things out of proportion’; Brown and Harris found that social factors such as lack of paid employment, two or more children under 5, early loss of mother and lack of close confiding relationship (best friend) were all correlated with depression.
It is possible the negative thinking acts as a cognitive ‘diathesis’ (vulnerability factors predisposing depression) but that it still requires an environmental life event to trigger an episode, (Brown and Harris 1978).
Although many studies show a link between negative thinking and depression, many of these have been correlational and have not been able to demonstrate that negative thinking caused the depression.
What did Notman and Nadelson find out?
Notman and Nadelson (1995) women are socialised to play down their strengths, one could say they are taught to use a depressive attributional style, and this might explain why they are more likely to suffer from depression than men.
Outline cultural differences in Depression
Evidence from a study conducted by the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, compared how people in Canada and people in China express depression. They found out that Canadian subjects talked about feeling sad, guilty and worthless, whereas Chinese subjects talked about physical symptoms such as tiredness, low energy and headaches. This may be due to it being stigmatized in China to be mentally “weak”, feeling shame in feeling that kind of way, but there is no shame about the physical symptoms. They were only willing to talk about psychological factors when confidentiality is being guaranteed. These attitudes also continue when asian people emigrate into the west, they actually dearly hold on to the notions that it is very stigmatizing to talk about this.
Outline Gender Bias in Depression
Gender stereotypes regarding proneness to emotional problems in women and alcohol problems in men, appear to reinforce social stigma and constrain help seeking along stereotypical lines. They are a barrier to the accurate identification and treatment of psychological disorders.
