The Cognitive Explanation Of Depression

Question 1

What is the key assumption of the cognitive approach?

Answer 1

Individuals who suffer from mental disorders have distorted and irrational thinking which may cause maladaptive behaviour

Question 2

What was Beck’s theory?

Answer 2

The cognitive triad

Question 3

What are the 3 parts to Beck’s cognitive triad?

Answer 3

Negative self-schemas
Faulty information processes (cognitive bias)
Negative triad

Question 4

What is a negative self-schema?

Answer 4

People who have become depressed have developed negative self-schemas

Question 5

What is the faulty information processes?

Answer 5

People who are depressed make fundamental errors in logic- they misperceive reality
Depressed people tend to selectively attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positive aspects
There is a tendency to blow small problems out of proportion

Question 6

Weissman and Beck- DAS?

Answer 6

PPTS asked to fill in a questionnaire by ticking agree or disagree with a set of statements
Eg. People will think less of me if i make a mistake
Depression PPTS made more negative assessments than non-depressed people

Question 7

What are the 5 cognitive biases?

Answer 7

1) overgeneralisation
2) personalisation
3) selective abstraction
4) magnification
5) minimisation

Question 8

What is overgeneralisation?

Answer 8

Making a general conclusion based on a single occurance e.g. this always happens to me

Question 9

What is personalisation?

Answer 9

Negative feelings of others are attributed to something about you
E.g. he didn’t say hi when he walked past so therefore he can’t like me

Question 10

What is selective abstraction?

Answer 10

Focuses on one aspect- overlooks aspects leading to a positive conclusion
E.g. if one thing goes badly in an interview- you focus on that instead of everything else that went well

Question 11

What is magnification?

Answer 11

Exaggerating significance of events- I couldn’t do it so I am hopeless at everything

Question 12

What is minimisation?

Answer 12

Underplaying positive outcomes and events
E.g. it was a fluke

Question 13

What is the negative triad?

Answer 13

They have a tendency to view themselves, the world and the future in pessimistic ways

Question 14

Strengths of Beck’s theory?

Answer 14

Science based- cognition- labs- PET scans and MRI’s
Practical application (CBT therapy)- Beck’s cognitive explanation is the basis of CBT
Has good supporting evidence- research has supported the proposal that depression is associated with faulty information processing, negative self-schemas and the triad of impairments

Question 15

Weaknesses of Beck’s theory?

Answer 15

Ignores nature- focuses entirely on nurture
Role of learning is ignored
Very person centred
Does not explain all aspects of depression- the theory explains the basic symptoms of depression, however it is a complex disorder with a range of symptoms- not all of which can be explained

Question 16

What is an example of faulty information processing?

Answer 16

If you had depression and won 1 million pounds on the lottery, you may think that it is not good enough as someone had previously won 10 million pounds

Question 17

Example of having a negative view of the world?

Answer 17

The world is a cold hard place

Question 18

Example of negative view of the future?

Answer 18

There isnt much chance the economy will really get better

Question 19

Example of negative view of themselves?

Answer 19

I am a a failure

Question 20

Overview of BECK’s theory?

Answer 20

Faulty information processing
Negative self schema
Negative triad

Question 21

What did Ellis say good mental health was the result of?

Answer 21

Rational thinking- thinking in ways that allow people to be happy and free from pain

Question 22

What did Ellis say poor mental health developed from?

Answer 22

Irrational thoughts- thoughts that interfere with us being happy and free from pain

Question 23

What are examples of activating events that might trigger irrational beliefs?

Answer 23

Failing a test or ending a relationship

Question 24

What are the range of irrational beliefs?

Answer 24

The belief to achieve perfectionism- “musturbation”
Utopanism- the belief that life is always meant to be fair

Question 25

Example of consequences? I

Answer 25

If a person believes that they must always succeed and then fail at something, this may trigger depression

Question 26

AO3: strength of Beck- research support?

Answer 26

Study by Joseph Cohen et al (2019) Tracked the development of 473 adolescents, regularly measuring cognitive vulnerability Found that showing cognitive vulnerability predicted later depression

Question 27

AO3: strength of Beck- real-world application?

Answer 27

Applications in screening Treatment for depression Cohen et al concluded that assessing cognitive vulnerability allows psychologists to screen young people- identifying those most at risk of developing depression in the future and monitoring them Understanding cognitive vulnerability can be applied in CBT

Question 28

What is cognitive vulnerability?

Answer 28

Ways of thinking that may predispose a person to becoming depressed e.g. faulty information processing, negative self schema and cognitive triad

Question 29

AO3: Beck- only shows a partial explanation>.

Answer 29

Some aspects of depression that are not particularly well explained by cognitive explanations E.g. some design people feel extreme anger, or maybe hallucinations/delusions Becks theory does not account for this

Question 30

AO3: strength of Ellis?

Answer 30

Real-world application- REBT (rational emotive behaviour therapy) REBT- argue with a depressed person that the therapist can alter the irrational beliefs that are making them unhappy Some evidence to support that REBT can change negative beliefs and relieve the symptoms of depression (David et al) Shows that REBT has real-world value

Question 31

AO3: limitation of ELLIS- reactive depression?

Answer 31

Ellis only explains reactive depression and not endogenous depression Reactive depression = depression being triggered by life events Endogenous depression = not traceable to life events and it is not obvious to what leads the person to become depressed at a particular time ABC model is less useful for explaining endogenous depression- means that Ellis’ model can only explain some cases of depression- therefore only a partial explanation