Psychopathology- Depression Flashcards
What is depression?
Mental disorder categorised by low mood and energy levels.
What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
Activity levels, disruption to sleeping/eating, aggression/self harm
What are the emotional characteristics of depression?
Lowered mood, anger, reduced self esteem
What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?
Poor concentration, dwelling on the negative, absolutist thinking
What is becks cognitive theory of depression?
Says that it’s a persons cognition which makes them more vulnerable to depression.
What is becks negative triad?
Negative view of world
Negative view of self
Negative view of future
What is a strength of becks cognitive theory?
Supporting evidence.
Alloy et al followed the thinking styles of young Americans in their early 20s for 6 years. They were tested and placed in positive or negative thinking groups. Found that only 1% of positive group developed depression compared with 17% of the negative group.
High internal validity.
What is a weakness of becks cognitive theory?
Negative thinking found to be an effect rather than a cause.
Was found that there was no difference between people who had formerly been depressed and people who had never been depressed in terms of tendencies to view events negatively.
Low internal validity
What was ellis’ model?
Good mental health obtained by rational thinking, depression caused by irrational thinking.
What is Ellis’ ABC model?
A- activating event
B- beliefs (rational or irrational)
C- consequences (rational leads to healthy emotional outcomes and vice versa.)
What is a strength of Ellis’ ABC model?
Application to therapy.
Cognitive ideas used to develop effective treatments for depression e.g. rational emotive behaviour therapy developed from ellis’ model, attempts to identify and challenge irrational thoughts.
High external validity
What is a weakness of ellis’ model?
Does not explain the origins of irrational thoughts.
Most research in this area is correlational. Unable to establish a cause and effect relationship- do irrational thoughts cause depression or the other way around?
Low internal validity
What idea is becks CBT based on and what does it aim to do?
That cognition, emotion, and behaviour all interact together. Aims to help people become aware of when they make negative interpretations/ behaviour which reinforces the distorted thinking. Negative thoughts in relation to the negative triad.
What is patient as scientist (technique used in CBT)?
Homework- identify irrational thoughts and write down evidence for and against them. Therapist uses evidence to change negative thoughts into positive thoughts.
What is Ellis’ REBT (developed ABC model)?
Rational emotive behaviour therapy. Irrational thoughts challenged by a dispute.
