The cognitive approach to explaining depression

Question 1

Who proposed the ABC model?

Answer 1

Albert Ellis

Question 2

What is the ABC model?

Answer 2

A model used to help individuals recognise their irrational beliefs

Question 3

What does the A stand for in the ABC model?

Answer 3

Activating event

Question 4

What does the B stand for in the ABC model?

Answer 4

Belief (irrational or rational)

Question 5

What does the C stand for in the ABC model?

Answer 5

Consequence (irrational or rational)

Question 6

What is musturbatory thinking?

Answer 6

Thinking that certain ideas or assumptions must be true in order for happiness

Question 7

What did Ellis identify as the 3 most important irrational beliefs?

Answer 7

I must be approved of by people I find important, I must do well or I am worthless and the world must give me happiness or I will die

Question 8

Why is musturbatory thinking bad?

Answer 8

Because the assumptions are irrational, and will lead to disappointment

Question 9

Who proposed the negative triad?

Answer 9

Aaron Beck

Question 10

What is a schema?

Answer 10

A cognitive framework that helps us to assimilate new information

Question 11

What is the negative triad explanation of depression?

Answer 11

A cognitive approach to understanding depression, focusing on negative expectations

Question 12

What type of schema did Beck suggest that depressed people have?

Answer 12

A negative schema (acquired during childhood)

Question 13

What activates the negative schemas of depressed people?

Answer 13

Encountering a new situation that resembles the original conditions in which these schemas were learnt

Question 14

What do negative schemas lead to?

Answer 14

Systematic cognitive biases

Question 15

What are the 3 components of Beck’s negative triad?

Answer 15

Negative view of the world, negative view of the self and negative view of the future

Question 16

What are the 4 AO3 points of the cognitive explanation of depression?

Answer 16

1) Blames the patient
2) Practical applications to therapy
3) Irrational beliefs may be realistic
4) Alternative explanations

Question 17

Why is blaming the client for their depression empowering?

Answer 17

It makes them feel in control of their disorder + allows them to feel responsible for changing

Question 18

Why is blaming the client for their depression problematic?

Answer 18

It can lead to the oversight of situational factors that may have caused the depression

Question 19

Which type of therapy has used the negative triad and ABC model to treat depression?

Answer 19

CBT

Question 20

What has research found about the effectiveness of CBT?

Answer 20

It is the most effective treatment for depression when paired with drug therapy

Question 21

What has been suggested about the perception of depressive realists?

Answer 21

They tend to see the world for how it actually is

Question 22

What did one study find about depressive realists?

Answer 22

They gave a more accurate estimate of the likelihood of disaster when compared to a control group

Question 23

What is the sadder but wiser effect?

Answer 23

Depressed individuals make more realistic inferences than non-depressed individuals

Question 24

What alternative explanation may better explain depression?

Answer 24

The biological explanation

Question 25

What biological component may be responsible for depression?

Answer 25

Neurotransmitters

Question 26

What did one study find about the neurotransmitters of depressed people?

Answer 26

They have lower than average serotonin levels

Question 27

What has research found about the gene associated with lower serotonin levels?

Answer 27

It is 10x more common in depressed individuals