the cognitive approach to treating depression

Question 1

define cbt

Answer 1

a method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavourial techniques.from the cognitive viewpoint the therapy aims to deal with thinking such as coal;enging negative thoughts, the therapy also includes behaviourial techniques like behaviourial activation

Question 2

cbt becks cognitive therapy

Answer 2

cbt is application of becks theory
idea behind cognitive therapy is to identify automatic thoughts about the world and self . - becks triad
once identified these thoughts must be challenged the central element of this therapy
cognitive therapy aims also to help patients test the reality of negative beliefs , might set homework such as a record of events they enjoy
in future sessions therapists can produce this log to counter patients thoughts with evidence
“patient as the scientist “

Question 3

ellis rebt

Answer 3

rebt extends ellis’ abc model to an abcde model
D stands for dispute
E for effect
this is a central technique of rebt to identify and dispute irrational thoughts
ie a therapist would hear them talk about how unlucky they are identify this as utopianism thinking and challenge this irrational belief and so break the link between negative life events and depression
- ellis identified different methods of disputing
empirical arguing = disputing if there is actual evidence to support the belief
logical argument = disputing other the evidence logically follows the facts

Question 4

behavourial activation

Answer 4

work to encourage a bdepressed patient to engage and be more active in enjoyable activities
this behvaourial activation provides more evidence for irrational nature of beliefs

Question 5

a strength
effectiveness

Answer 5

large body of evidence to support the claim cbt is effective for depression
- march et al 2007
compared the effects of cbt with antidepressant drugs and a combination of the two in 327 adolescents with a main diagnosis of depression. after 36 weeks 81% of the cbt group , 81% of the antidepressants group and 86% of the cbt and antidepressants group were significantly more improved
thus cbt is just as effective as medication and helpful alongside medication. suggests there is a good case for making cbt the first choice of treatment in public health care systems

Question 6

a limitation
cbt may not work in serve cases

Answer 6

in some cases depression case be so serve that patients cannot motivate themselves to engage with the hard cognitive work of cbt
they may not even be able to pay attention in a session, where in those cases it is possible to treat patients with antidepressants and commence cbt when they are more alert and motivated
a limitation of cbt as it means cbt cannot be used as the sole treatment for all cases of depression

Question 7

a limitation
success may be due to therapist patient relationship

Answer 7

• Rosenzweig 2016
  differences between different methods of psychotherpay such as cbt and systematic desensitisation might be quite small.
  all pyschotherpaies share a key ingredient , the therapist patient relationship.
  it may be the quality of this relationship that determines the success rather than any particular technique used
  many compRTive reviews ie luborksy et al 2002 find very small differences which supports the view that simply having an oppurtunity to talk to someone who will listen could be what matters most.