Psychopathology-depression Flashcards
what is depression
a mental disorder which affects a persons mood
what are the two emotional symptoms of depression
-low mood
-loss of pleasure
what are the two cognitive symptoms of depression
-irrational negative beliefs
-difficulty concentrating
what are the 3 behavioural symptoms of depression
-change in appetite
-change in sleep pattern
-social withdrawal
what is the criteria for someone to be diagnosed with major depression
-must experience at least 5 symptoms within 2 weeks
-at least one must be an emotional symptom
what are the 2 models to explain depression called
-Ellis ABC model
-Becks cognitive triad
what did Ellis believe caused depression
the way in which people interpreted events
explain the ABC model
A-activating event-the event as to which there is a reaction
B-belief-the belief as to why the situation occured
C-consequences-feelings and behaviour the belief now causes
what is an example of an irrational belief
musterbation-refers to the behaviour of clients who are inflexible and absolutist in there way of thinking and that they must not fail
what did Beck believe caused depression
negative irrational belief about the self, world and future
according to beck what are the 2 factors that cause irrational negative beliefs
-negative schemas
-cognitive bias
what is a negative schema
during childhood when authority figures place demands that are unrealistic and hard to achieve this provides a negative framework to view events pesimistically
what is a negative cognitive bias
only paying attention to the negative information which is then assimilated into their negative self schema
supporting evidence for the cognitive explanation for depression
-Boury
-Koster
what did Boury find
negative thoughts were monitored using Becks depression inventory. Finding that people with depression misinterpret facts and feelings in a negative fashion and feel hopeless about the future
What did Koster find
partipants sat Infront of a computer and a positive, negative or neutral work flashed up on the screen. A square appeared on the screen and participants clicked a button to indicate which side of the screen it appeared on
Results-after being presented with a negative word partipants with depression took longer than those without to press the button
This effect was not observed with positive or neutral words
Supports the idea that people with depression focus on the negatives and have a negative cognitive bias
what is a useful appplication to the cognitive approach to depression
can treat depression using CBT which was developed from Ellis ABC model to challenge irrational negative beliefs.
link to economic multiplier
what is a weakness of the cognitive approach to depression
cognitive explanation is correlation not causal don’t know if negative irrational thoughts cause depression or vice versa
what is evidence against the cognitive approach to depression
alloy and abrahamson-asked participants with and without depression how much control they had over a flashing light
Results-partipants with major depression estimated more accurately than those without
This suggests not all people with depression have irrational beliefs
what is an alternative explanation for depression
imbalance of neurotransmitters eg-seratonin
Mcguffin-concordance rate for depression was 46% for monozygotic twins but for dizygotic twins was 20%
This suggests genetic factors contribute to major depression
what is the treatment of depression
CBT
Aims to remove negative beliefs that cause depression
what are the 4 steps involved in CBT
- Therapist helps the patients to identify irrational negative beliefs
- Therapist challenged the irrational negative beliefs
- Patient is set HMW to gather evidence to test there hypothesis
4.Therapist and patient evaluate evidence in the next session
what is some supporting evidence for the use of CBT
Cuijpers
carried out a meta-analysis of participants receiving CBT vs Control group not receiving CBT. Partipants who received CBT noticed a significant improvement in symptoms compared to control group.
HOWEVER he found the effectiveness of CBT varies between individuals
what is some evidence to suggest CBT is better than drugs
David- Studied 170 patients suffering from major depressive disorder and found that patients treated with fourteen weeks of REBT had better treatment outcomes than those treated with the drug fluoxetine six months after treatment
what are some limitations to CBT
-may not be effective for everyone as there are individual differences in patients experience of depression
Cuijpers found the effectiveness of CBT varies between individuals
-CBT may not be as effective as other treatments eg-Antidepressants eg-SSRIs which focus on targeting the biological causes of depression eg-low levels of serotonin
what is some research suggesting that using drugs in combinatation with CBT is the most effective
keller found recovery rate for those
only taking drugs-55%
only CBT-52%
drugs and CBT-85%
shows taking both together is the most effective
why might CBT not work for severely depressed patients
CBT requires motivation so patients with severe depression wont want to participate
