Psycopathology

Question 1

A01- cognitive approach explaining depression

Answer 1

-becks cognitive triad
-claims depression is caused By negative self schemas and cognitive bias’s that maintain a cognitive -ve triad: a negative view of ourselves, the future and the world around us
-according to black depressed people posses a negative self schema which are caused by negative experiences in childhood
- for example criticism from parents
-furthermore beck found that depresses people are more likely to focus on the -ve aspects of a situation while ignoring the positives.
-this distorts information a process known as cognitive bias and includes overgeneralising
-e.g ‘I have failed one test i will fail all my exams’

Question 2

A01- cognitive approach explaining depression

Answer 2

-Eli’s is proposed ABC three stage model to explain irrational thought can lead to depression
- a activity even (A) occurs, for example you pass a friend in the corridor at school and they ignore you when you say hello.
-your belief (B) is your interpretation which could either be rational or irrational
-according to Ellis, an irrational belief e.g my friend must hate me can lead to unhealthy emotional consequences (C) including depression

Question 3

A03- cognitive approach explaining depression strength- application

Answer 3

-strength of the cognitive explanation of depression is its application to therapy
-congntive explanations have been used to develop effective treatments for depression in ncluing CBT
And rational emotive behaviour therapy REBT which was developed from Ellis’s ABC model
-these therapies aim to identify and challenge negative irrational thoughts and have been successfully used to treat people with depression which is a strength as it provides further support to the cognitive explanation of depression

Question 4

A03- cognitive approach explaining depression-weakness- origins

Answer 4

-weakness is to does not explain the origins of irrational thoughts
- since most of the research done in this area is correlation a psychologist are unable to determine if negative irrational thoughts cause depression or a persons depression leads to a negative mindset
- e.g genes an neurostransmitters are the cause of depression and the irrational thoughts are a symptom of depression
- a weakness because we are unable to determine if negative irrational thoughts cause depression .

Question 5

AO3 cognitive approach to explaining depression weakness- addition to origins

Answer 5

• addition there is alternative explanations which suggests that depression is a biological condition caused by genes and neurotransmitters
  -research focused on the role of serotonin has found lower levels of patients with depression
  -in addition drug therapies including SSRIs which increased the serotonin levels are found to be effective on the treatment of depression which provide further support for the role of neurotransmitters in the development of depression
  -a weakness as it casts doubt on the cognitive explanation as a sole cause of the disorder

Question 6

A01- cognitive approach explaining depression-strength research evidence

Answer 6

—strength is there is research evidence to support cognitive explanation of depression -
-boury et al found that the patients with depression were more likely to misinterpret info negatively (cognitive bias) and feel hopeless about the future (cognitive triad)
-further to this bates et al ,gave depressed patients negative automatic thought statements to read and found that their symptoms became worse, these findings support different components of becks theory and the idea that negative thinking is involved in depression.