Psychopathology 8-10 (depression)

Question 1

Behavioural characteristics of depression.

Answer 1

1. Change in activity levels - lethargy (lack of evergy). Anhedonia (withdrawal from activities that were once enjoyed)
2. Disruption to sleep- insomnia(difficulty falling/staying asleep).
   Hypersomnia (require a lot of sleep/ oversleeping).
3. Disruption to eating- significant increase/decrease in weight due to eating too much or too less.
4. Aggression- irritable, can become physically or verbally aggressive. Even towards themselves (self-harm, suicide).

Question 2

Emotional characteristics of depression.

Answer 2

1. Low mood- overwhelming feelings of sadness/hopelessness & feeling empty.
2. Feelings of worthlessness- constant feelings of reduced worth and guilt. Low levels of self-esteem.
3. Anger- feel anger towards other or themselves.

Question 3

Cognitive characteristics of depression.

Answer 3

1. Negative schema- negative view of the world, themselves and the future.
   Leads to the self-fulfilling prophecy where if you expect negative things to happen, they will happen because you make them happen. Positive factors are ignored.
2. Poor concentration- difficulty maintaining/paying attention. May have a slower thought process

Question 4

what does the cognitive explanation of depression say?

Answer 4

That depression is the result of disturbance in ‘thinking’. Depression is a consequence of faulty and negative thinking about events and it can be managed by challenging this faulty thinking.

Question 5

What is a negative schema?

Answer 5

Cognitive framework that helps us organise and interpret information and make sense of new information.

Question 6

Further explain the negative schema (Beck).

Answer 6

Beck (1967) believed that depressed people have acquired a negative schema during childhood and as a result have a tendency to adopt a pessimistic view of the world.
These negative schemas are activated whenever the person encounters a new situation that resembles the original conditions in which the schema was learned.
Negative schemas lead to cognitive biases in thinking, for example, overgeneralisations on the basis of one small piece of negative feedback.

Question 7

What is the negative triad?

Answer 7

Negative schemas and cognitive biases maintain the negative triad.
= irrational view of 3 elements in the person’s belief system:
1. Them self (there is nothing to like about me)
2. The world (nobody likes me)
3. The future (I’ll always be alone, no one will love me)

Question 8

What is the strength of the negative triad?

Answer 8

-supporting evidence to show negative + irrational thinking causes depression.

Terry (2000):
-assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability and depression before and after giving birth.
-women with high cognitive vulnerability(-thinking) = more likely to suffer with post-partum depression.
Supports cognitive approach that negative thinking= depression.

Question 9

What are the weaknesses of the negative triad?

Answer 9

• cause and effect= not clear. It could be that depression develops first from different sources (eg. Genetics) and then this causes patient to think in negative and irrational ways.
• criticised because doesnt explain how some symptoms of depression might develop. Some depressed patients = very angry. Becks theory fails to account for this.

Question 10

Explain the abc model.

Answer 10

Ellis proposed that depression is caused by irrational beliefs. Devised ABC model to explain how irrational and negative beliefs are formed.
A= activating event: an incident in someone’s life.
B= beliefs: thoughts that occur after activating event. Could be rational or irrational.
C= consequences: emotions that are caused by these beliefs. Irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotions.

Question 11

Strength and weakness of ABC model?

Answer 11

+ research support for ABC model as a cause of depression.
Bates (1999) found that depressed participants who were given negative thought statements became more and more depressed= supports that negative thoughts= depression.

• Blames client for their depression.

Question 12

What is the aim of cognitive behavioural therapy?

Answer 12

To challenge negative thoughts.

Question 13

What is the rational emotive behavioural therapy?

Answer 13

• Ellis extended his model to include DEF and develop a CBT(cognitive behavioural therapy)for depression called rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT).
• this therapy aimed at challenging automatic and negative thoughts and replacing them with rational beliefs.

Question 14

Explain each stage in the REBT.

Answer 14

D= disputing irrational thoughts and beliefs:

1. Logical disputing- therapist shows patient their self-defeating beliefs don’t follow logically from info available.
2. Empirical disputing- therapists show patients their self-defeating beliefs are not consistent with reality.
3. Pragmatic disputing- therapists show patients the lack of usefulness of self-defeating beliefs.

E= effects of disputing and effective attitude to life: new rational thoughts that occur now that irrational thoughts and beliefs have been disputed

F= feelings: the new feelings/emotions that result from new rational thoughts and having a new, effective attitude to life.

Question 15

Strengths of REBT?

Answer 15

• David (2008) compared 170 depressive patients who had 14 weeks of CBT with depressive patients who were treated with the drug fluoxetine. 6 months later= found that CBT was a better long-term treatment.
• Ellis claimed a 90% success rate for CBT, taking an average of 27 sessions to complete treatment.

Question 16

Weaknesses of REBT?

Answer 16

• requires commitment and motivation. Problem for depressed patients, especially if suffering from lethargy.
• not suitable for everyone. Doesn’t work when high levels of stress in individual reflect realistic stressors.
• relies on patients self-reporting their thoughts. (Thoughts can’t be objectively observed/measured). Self-reports could be unreliable, difficult to verify.