The cognitive approach to explaining depression Flashcards
Which approach is used by psychologists to explain the development of depression?
The cognitive approach is used by psychologists to explain the development of depression.
What is the cognitive approach?
The cognitive approach is focused on how our mental processes (e.g. thoughts, perceptions, attention) affect behaviour.
Which two psychologists have attempted to explain depression using the cognitive approach?
Beck and Ellis have both developed cognitive theories in an attempt to explain depression.
What did Beck aim to explain through his cognitive theory?
Beck, an American psychiatrist, aimed to explain why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others. In particular, it is a person’s cognitions that create this vulnerability (i.e. the way people think).
Beck aimed to explain how cognitive vulnerability led to depression. How many parts to this cognitive vulnerability were identified by Beck?
Beck suggested three parts to this cognitive vulnerability.
Beck suggested there were three parts to cognitive vulnerability. Name these three parts.
- Faulty information processing
- Negative self-schemas
- The negative triad
Faulty information processing was proposed by Beck as being the first part of cognitive vulnerability. How is faulty information processing associated with depression?
When depressed we attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives. We also tend to blow small problems out of proportion and think in ‘black and white’ terms.
Faulty information processing refers to when one attends to negative aspects of a situation. Give one example of this.
If I was depressed and won £1 million on the Lottery, I might focus on the fact that the previous week someone had won £10 million rather than focus on the positive of all I could do with £1 million.
Negative self-schema was proposed by Beck as being the second part of cognitive vulnerability. What is a schema?
A schema is a ‘package’ of ideas and information developed through experience. They act as a mental framework for the interpretation of sensory information.
Negative self-schema was proposed by Beck as being the second part of cognitive vulnerability. What is a self-schema?
A self-schema is the package of information we have about ourselves.
How can negative self-schema be used to explain depression?
We use schemas to interpret the world, so if we have a negative self-schema we interpret all information about ourselves in a negative way.
The negative triad was proposed by Beck as being the third part of cognitive vulnerability. What is the negative triad?
Beck proposed that there were three kinds of negative thinking that contributed to becoming depressed. Such views lead a person to interpret their experiences in a negative way and so make them more vulnerable to depression. These three types of negative thinking occur automatically, regardless of the reality of what is happening at the time.
The negative triad contributes to becoming depressed. Which three elements make up the negative triad?
- Negative view of the world
- Negative view of the future
- Negative view of the self
The first element of the negative triad is a ‘negative view of the world’. Briefly outline this view.
A negative view of the world creates the impression that there is no hope anywhere. An example would be ‘the world is a cold, hard place’.
The second element of the negative triad is a ‘negative view of the future’. Briefly outline this view.
Negative views of the future reduce any hopefulness and enhance depression. An example of this would be ‘there isn’t much chance that the economy will get better’.
