Psychopathology - Cognitive Treatment AO3

Question 1

What are the strengths of the cognitive explanation?

Answer 1

1. Hammen and Kranz found that their depressed participants made more logical errors than non-depressed participants when interpreting written material (can be applied in other studies)
2. has real life applications as Beck’s explanation is used in CBT to identify and challenge depressed people

Question 2

What are the weaknesses of the cognitive explanation?

Answer 2

1. The cognitive approach blames the the client rather than situational factors which do contribute to the mental disorder
2. reductionist as it doesn’t consider the biological aspects of depression (drug treatment is usually used along side CBT because of this)

Question 3

What are the strengths of the CBT?

Answer 3

1. highly effective (March et al found that 81% of the participants that used CBT significantly improved) which shows that it has a high reliability
2. it’s more cost effective than other treatments as it has long-term benefits so it’s reliable

Question 4

What are the weakness of the CBT?

Answer 4

1. can’t be generalised to everyone as it relies on discussing problems and feeling and addicts or people with learning disabilities may not be able to do that so it depends on the person (individual differences)
2. dependent on how good the therapist is (contributes to 15% of the effectiveness) and therefore faces ethical concerns as the therapist could abuse their power (may harm patient which goes against protection of participants)