Psychopathology: The Cogntive Approach To Treating Dperesison

Question 1

What is cognitive behaviour therapy

Answer 1

• most commonly used psychological treatment for depression
• begins with an assessment, patient and therapist work together to clarify patients problems
• they jointly identify goals and put together a plan to achieve them
• one essential task is identifying the irrational thoughts the patient has

Question 2

Outline becks cognitive therapy

Answer 2

• CBT is the application of becks cognitive theory of depression
• aim - to identify automatic thoughts of the world,self and future (negative triad) + challenge them
• cognitive therapy also helps the patient to test the reality of their negative beliefs
• e.g. therapist may set patient homework to ‘record when they enjoyed an event’

Question 3

Outline Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)

Answer 3

• REBT extends ABC model - the main technique used is to identity and challenge irrational thoughts
• the argument between the therapist and the patient about the irrational thoughts is the hallmark of REBT
• Ellis identified different types of disputing: (empirical argument - disputing that there is evidence to support the negative belief)(logical argument - disputing whether the negative thought logically follows from the facts)

Question 4

What is behavioural activation

Answer 4

• alongside the cognitive aspects of CBT, the therapist may also work to encourage a depressed patient to be more active
• this behavioural activation will provide for evidence for the irrational nature of beliefs

Question 5

What are the three evaluation points for the cognitive approach to treating depression

Answer 5

• CBT is effective
• CBT may not work for most severe cases
• success may be due to therapist- patient relationship

Question 6

Outline ‘CBT is effective’ as an evaluation point for the Cognitive approach to treating phobias

Answer 6

• lots of evidence to argue it is effective
• study by march et al - compared effects of CBT within antidepressants and a combination of the two in a group of adolescents with a diagnosis of depression
• after 36 weeks: 81% of cbt and antidepressants group + 86% of the combined group were significantly improved

Question 7

Outline ‘CBT may not work for most severe cases ’ as an evaluation point for the Cognitive approach to treating phobias

Answer 7

• in some cases, depression is so severe patients cannot motivate themselves to engage in cbt
• they may not even be able to pay attention to what is happening in a session
• although it is possible to work around this by medicating the patient on antidepressants until they can engage, it means CBT cannot be used as the sole treatment for depression

Question 8

Outline success may be due to therapist- patient relationship ’ as an evaluation point for the Cognitive approach to treating phobias

Answer 8

• researchers suggest that the differences between different methods of psychotherapy (such as CBT and SD) may actually be quite small
• all psychotherapies share an element of ‘therapist patient relationship’
• may be the quality of this relationship that determines success rather than techniques used