Psychopathology - Depression Flashcards
Behavioural characteristics of depression
Change in activity levels
Disruption to sleep
Disruption to eating behaviour
Aggression
What is change in activity levels
Lethargy and withdrawal from activities they once enjoyed
May also neglect personal hygiene
Some people experience increased levels of activity/agitation
What is disruption to sleep
Insomnia - difficulty falling sleep and staying asleep
Some may experience hypersomnia
Disruption to eating behaviour
Significant decrease or increase in weight
May eat a lot or very little
What is aggression
Often irritable and physically or verbally aggressive
May be aggressive towards themselves - self harm
Emotional characteristics
Low mood
Feelings of worthlessness
Anger
What is low mood
Ever present and overwhelming feeling of sadness/hopelessness and feelings empty
Feelings of worthlessness
Often have constant feelings of reduced worth and inappropriate feelings of guilt
Low levels of self esteem
What is anger (emotional)
Anger towards others or themselves
Depression may arise from feelings of being hurt and wishing to retaliate
Cognitive characteristics of depression
Negative schema
Poor concentration
What is negative schema
Negative view of themselves, the world and the future
Self-fulfilling prophecy - if u expect bad things to happen they will happen because you make it happen
What is poor concentration
Difficulty in paying/maintaining attention and person may feel like they can’t stay focused on tasks for a long time
Slower thought processes
Bad memory
When are negative schemas activated
Whenever the person encounters a new situation that resembles the original conditions in which the schema was learned
Who devised the ABC model
Ellis (1962)
What does the ABC model stand for
A = activating event
B = beliefs
C = consequences
ABC model to explain how depressed people react compared to not depressed people
Not depressed - Negative event (A), Rational belief (B), Healthy negative emotion (C)
Depressed - Negative event (A), Irrational belief (B), Unhealthy Negative Emotion (C)
Support of the negative triad
Terry (2000) assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability before and after they gave birth. It was found that women who had high cognitive vulnerability were more likely to suffer post partum depression
Weaknesses of negative triad
Cause and effect not always clear - dkwhat happens first
It doesn’t explain how some symptoms of depression might develop
Strengths of ABC Model
Bates (1999) found depressed participants who were given negative thought statements became more and more depressed
Means negative thinking helps to cause depression
Weakness of ABC model
Blames client for their depression
What is the aim of Cognitive Behavioural therapy
The aim of CBT is the change irrational thoughts and so alleviate the depression
Outline of Beck’s Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Identity negative triad - thought catching. Then patients generate a hypothesis to test validity of their irrational thoughts
What strategies are used in CBT to test patient’s hypothesis
- The patient may be asked to gather data about behaviour an incidents then compare the evidence with their hypothesis to check if they match
- Homework assignments in between sessions to test irrational thoughts out in the real word
- patients could be asked to kept a diary so negative thinking can be identified and targeted
What happens when a patient reports positive thoughts in CBT
they are praised by the therapist, providing positive reinforcement
What is the Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy
Ellis (1994) developed a CBT therapy for depression called Rational emotive Behavioural Therapy.
Logical arguments in Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy
Uses logical arguments to show their self-defeating beliefs do not logically follow from the information available
Empirical arguments in Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy
Therapists use empirical argument to show patients that their self-defeating beliefs are not consistent with reality
CBT weakness
Relies on patient self -reporting so this may be unreliable and untrustworthy
People may not be that committed to CBT therapy
CBT strength
As effective as antidepressants
Who devised the negative triad
Beck (1999)
Who devised CBT
Beck
Who devised REBT
Ellis
