Psychopathology - The cognitive approach to treating depression Flashcards
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)? What does it focus on?
A talking therapy that focuses on identifying and challenging irrational thoughts. Beck’s CBT focuses on present experience.
In CBT, the client is taught ‘catching’, what is this?
Catching => when irrational thoughts are identified they are challenged and reconstructed to avoid distortion by a negative triad.
Why is the client asked to do homework in CBT? What is behavioural activation?
The client acts as a scientist and reality tests irrational thoughts by carrying out homework and then together with the psychologist evaluating the evidence gathered which disproves irrational thought.
Behavioural activation is when the psychologist encourages the client to take part in enjoyable activities in order to improve mental health and emotion.
What is Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy? (REBT)
Ellis’ REBT adapts the ABC model, adding D (disruption/ challenge of irrational beliefs => leading to E (effective change) . This disruption can either be logical (do beliefs make sense?) or empirical (is there any evidence for those beliefs?)
What is are the limitations of CBT?
CBT is not effective for clients who are severely depressed as they will be unable to take part in the homework which is a key part of CBT.
Access to CBT is limited due to cost and time investment with trained therapists. Often anti-depressants are used as a cheaper alternative however they only repress depression and can create an unhealthy dependency.
What are the strengths of CBT?
The success of CBT has led many people to be able to return to the workplace, positively impacting the economy (real world application of its benefits)
CBT has been shown to be as effective as medication with both showing 81% success rate.
