The Cognitive Approach to Depression (Psychopathology) Flashcards
What are the emotional characteristics of depression?
- Low mood
- Loss of pleasure
What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?
- Irrational negtaive beliefs
- Difficulty concerntrating
What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
- Change in appetite
- Change in sleep patterns
- Social withdrawal
What was Ellis’s ABC models aim?
Explain how irrational thoughts affect our behaviour and emotional state.
What is involved in Ellis’s ABC model?
- Activating event
- Beliefs
- Consequences
Outline activating event in Ellis’s ABC model:
We get depressed when we experiance negative events which triggers irrational beliefs.
Outline beliefs in Ellis’s ABC model:
Identified a range of irrational beleifs.
EXAMPLE: ‘musturbation’ = we must always succeed/achieve perfection.
Outline consequences in Ellis’s ABC model
When an activating event triggers irrational beliefs that are emotional and behavioural consequences.
EXAMPLE: if you believe you must always succeed and then fail, this can trigger depression.
What does Beck include in cognitive vulnerability?
- Faulty information processing
- Negative self-schemas
- The negative triad
Outline Becks faulty information processing?
- When depressed we look at the negatives of a situation and ignore positives.
- We also blow small problems out of proportion.
Outline Becks negative self-schemas:
Interpreting all information about ourselves in a negative way.
Outline Becks negative triad:
A person develops a dysfunctional view of themselves beacuse of three types of negative thinking which occurs automatically.
- Negative thoughts on: world, future, oneself.
What is the negative view of the world? (Becks negative triad)
Creating the impression that there is no hope anywhere.
What is the negative view of the future? (Becks negative triad)
Reduces hopefulness and enhances depression.
What is the negative view of oneself? (Becks negative triad)
Thoughts enhance any exsiting depressive feelings as they confrim the exisiting emotions of low self-esteem.
Whose study supports the cognitive approach?
Koster
Outline Kosters study:
Investigated: attention abilites of people with depression.
Procedure: ppts sat in front of a computer + a positive/negative/neutral word appeard along with a sqaure. Ppts has to press a button as fast as possible to indercate where sqaure appeard.
DV = reaction time.
IV = whether ppts had depression or not.
What were Kosters findings?
- After presented with negative words = ppts with depression took longer to indercate where the square appeared which were not observed with positive/neutral words.
- People with major depresson focus on negatives + have a negative cognitive bias.
Whose study is against the cognitive approach?
- Alloy and Abramson
- McGuffin
Outline Alloy and Abramsons study:
Asked ppts with/without depression to estimate how much control they had over a flashing light.
What were the findings of Alloy and Abramsons study?
- Ppts with depression estimated more accurately than the control group.
- Not all people with depresson have irrational beliefs.
Outline McGuffins study:
- Irrational negative beleifs may not be the only cause of depression.
Concordance rates for depression:
- MZ twins = 46%
- DZ twins = 20%
What were the findings for McGuffins study?
Genetic factors contribute to depression.
Outline Becks cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT):
- Aims to remove negative beliefs that causes depression.
1) Identify negative beliefs.
2) Thearpist challenges negatives beliefs.
3) Test their hypothesis (investigating the reality of thier negative beliefs).
4) Evaluate the evidence (set them homework - e.g. record when they are enjoying an event).
Outline Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour thearpy (REBT):
- Identify + challenge irrational thoughts, breaking the link between negative life events and depression.
Different methods of challenging thoughts:
- Empirical
- Logical
What is the support for CBT treatment?
Culjpers
Outline Culjpers study:
- Reviewed all studies in US that compared experimental groups of depressed ppts receiving CBT with a control group receiving no treatment.
What were the findings for Culjpers study?
Those treated with CBT = improved symptoms compared to control group.
- CBT is more effective than no treatment.
What are the limitations of CBT?
- It may not be effective for everyone because there are individual differneces of patients experiences.
Culjpers = effectiveness of CBT varies between individuals.
- It may not be as effective as other treatments.
Treatments aimed at biological causes may be more effective (such as antidpressants - SSRIs).
