The cognitive approach to explaining depression Flashcards
Psychopathology
What is the basic assumption of the cognitive approach explaining depression?
That depression is caused by negative thinking and these negative thoughts create a negative mind set which creates a low mood
What are the two cognitive theories of depression?
1.Beck’s negative triad (1967)
2. Ellis’ ABC model (1962)
What is Beck’s negative triad (1967)?
Beck (1967) developed the negative triad to illustrate how a person with expression has a negative view of their situation. He suggested that an individual’s cognition makes them more vulnerable to developing depression because of three factors
What are the 3 factors making someone more vulnerable to developing depression?
- Faulty information processing
- Negative self-schema
- The negative triad
What is faulty information processing?
People with depression tend to focus on the negatives of a situation as opposed to the positives. For example, someone may win £20 million on the lottery but be more disappointed that they didn’t win £50 million like the person in the previous week won (faulty information processing)
What is negative self-schema?
Schemas are little ‘pockets’ of information that are our ideas of the world and develop through experience. Our self-schema is a mental framework for how we see ourselves. Those with depression tend to have a negative self-schema whereby the information within this is very critical
What is the negative triad?
This faulty information processing and negative self-schemas result in dysfunctional thinking about themselves. He suggested that there were three types of ‘negative thinking’ which forms the negative triad.
Specifically, he thought that depressed people have a negative view of themselves, the world, and the future. Examples:
World- everybody hates me because I am worthless
Oneself- I am worthless
The future- I’ll never be good at anything because everyone hates me
What are the strengths of Beck’s negative triad?
- Evidence to support- Lewinsohn (2001)- negative thinking actually causes depression- they gave 1507 students (not diagnosed with depression) questionnaires- students were reassessed a year later and it was found that those who showed evidence of negative thinking were more likely to be diagnosed with depression
- Useful applications- possible to treat depression by changing the negative thoughts- Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)- the success of this theory comes partly from Beck’s work
What is Ellis’ ABC model (1962)?
Ellis suggested that those with depression have irrational thoughts. These thoughts make it difficult to achieve goals and prevent us from being happy. the ABC model explains how these irrational thoughts may influence our behaviour and emotional wellbeing
What does ABC stand for?
A- activating event- when a negative situation has been experienced and then causes irrational thoughts
B- beliefs- the activating event then leads to irrational beliefs about themselves
C- consequences- these irrational beliefs then lead to consequences for behaviour and emotions
What is a strength of Ellis’ ABC model?
Has applications for treating depression- Ellis used his theory to develop rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT)- tackles the irrational beliefs an individual with depression often has through the dispute of these beliefs by asking for evidence of them being real- a lack of evidence then alters these beliefs to more rational ones- therapy has improved quality of life for many people- highlighting the value of the contribution
What is a limitation of Ellis’ ABC model?
Can be considered reductionists- only focuses on one aspect of depression and ignores the bigger picture- biological approach would suggest that it may be inherited or caused by abnormal levels of biochemicals- research has indicated that depression has seen low serotonin- only focuses on how irrational thoughts are the only possible explanation of depression
