Psychopathology - Depression 8-10

Question 1

Behavioural Characteristics of Depression

Answer 1

1) Self Harm
2) Social Widthdrawal
3) Weight changes

Question 2

Emotional Characteristics of Depression

Answer 2

1) Anger
2) Worthlessness
3) Constant depressive mood

Question 3

Cognitive Characteristics of Depression

Answer 3

1) Delusions
2) Thoughts of death
3) Poor memory

Question 4

Negative Triad (AO1)

Answer 4

Created by Beck.
- She believed that people became depressed because they gave negative outlooks on life and develop negative schemas
- Negative schemas develop from parents who become overly Critical
- Negative schemas are self blame and ineptness (where people expect to fail everything)
The cognitive triad
1) Negative thoughts about themself
2) Negative thoughts about the world
3) Negative thoughts about the future

Question 5

Evaluation of Negative Triad by Beck

Answer 5

• A negative is that it doesn’t explain how some symptoms of depression develop. Doesn’t explain why patients self harm and other behaviours that patients of depression have (-)
• A positive is that there is support to Beck’s claims that negative thoughts cause depression. Terry assesed 65 pregnant women and found those with high cognitive vulnerability were more likely to suffer from post natal depression
• Cause and Effect needs to be established. Does negative schemas lead to depression or does depression lead to negative schemas? Therefore, we need more research in order to increase our understanding of how depression develops

Question 6

Ellis’ ABC Model AO1

Answer 6

Depression is Caused by irrational thoughts
A - Activating Event like being fired (an incident)
B - Beliefs - thoughts after the activating event
C - Consequences - emotions that are caused by the beliefs

Question 7

Ellis’ ABC Model Evaluation

Answer 7

• A disadvantage is that it is unclear whether negative thinking actually causes depression or negative thinking comes as a result of depression and causes them to think in a negative way. There needs to be more research on this. Cause and Effect needs to be established when looking at depression (-)
• An advantage is that the ABC model is based on sound scientific evidence which allows for objective testing. Allows for the improvement of the model
• Another advantage is that there is evidence that shows adults who develop depression have most likely experienced poor attachments in childhood. Links poor attachments (that cause negative thinking) and depression

Question 8

Mustabatory Thinking

Answer 8

Thinking that sets high expectations. If patients fail to meet these, they have negative thoughts due to these irrational beliefs and develop depression

Question 9

CBT

Answer 9

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Treatment for depression. Aims to alter the way patients of depression think

Question 10

CBT by Beck

Answer 10

• Modify negative ways of thinking so they become more positive
• Patients are told to have thought catching diaries and they should write their thoughts down and then challenge them during therapy sessions.
• Can be used on small groups and individuals
• Positive thoughts are constructed through positive reinforcement
• Patient needs to test out their negative thinking and generate a hypothesis to test their irrational thoughts

Question 11

Evaluation of CBT (Beck)

Answer 11

• One advantage is that it is widely respected and supported by vasts amounts of research. It is economically friendly compared to psychodynamic approaches to treating depression and used by the NHS. (+)
• CBT is a very effective treatment for mild depression. When the depression is only mild, it may be a more appropriate treatment than compared to the use of drug therapy that might be considered overkill (+)
• CBT may not always work by itself because the patient may be unwilling to cooperate and therefore to treat depression, it may need to be used in conjunction of another treatment such as drug therapy (-)
• CBT is an effective treatment for depression for those who may be prone to suffering from drug addiction through the use of drug therapy. It avoids them from becoming addicted and may aid the recovery process. (+)

Question 12

Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy

Answer 12

• Therapy aims to challenge automatic negative thoughts and replace these with rational ones
• Logical disputing to show the patient that their self-defeating thoughts don’t make sense logically from the information given
• Therapists then use Empirical disputing where self defeating beliefs are not consistent within reality
• Patients encouraged to partake in activities they once did through behavioural activation.

Question 13

Evaluation of REBT (CBT from Ellis)

Answer 13

• Flannaghan et al used REBT as an effective way to treat stroke victims, showing that this treatment was effective for this small group of people (+)
• Relies on the patients self-reporting and this is unreliable because patients may fail to do so as a result of their depression. The patient has to be communicative if the treatment were to be successful (-)
• The success of REBT is highly dependent on the therapist. The more skilled the therapist, the more effective the treatment would be. (-)