Treating depression - AO1 Flashcards
What is CBT?
Cognitive behavioural therapy
The most commonly used psychological treatment for depression and a range of other mental health problems
What is the cognitive element of CBT?
Begins with an assessment in which the client and the cognitive behaviour therapist work together to clarify the client’s problems.
They identify goals and put a plan in place to achieve them.
One of the central tasks is to identify where there may be negative and irrational thoughts that will benefit from this challenge
What is the behaviour element of CBT?
CBT then involved working to change negative irrational thoughts and finally put more effective behaviours into place
What is Beck’s cognitive therapy?
Cognitive therapy is the application of Beck’s cognitive therapy of depression
The idea behind it is to identify automatic thoughts about the negative triad and challenge it
What happens in Beck’s cognitive therapy?
The cultural component is to identify automatic thoughts of the negative triad and then challenging them.
As well as that it helps to help clients test the reality of their negative beliefs.
- They would be set homework e.g write down a list of all the times people were nice to you
- Reffered to as the “client as scientist” investigating the reality of their own negative belief
- The therapist would then produce evidence for their irrational thoughts, e.g “nobody likes me”
What is Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour therapy?
REBT
It extends the ABC model to ABCDE
D=dispute (irrational beliefs)
E = effects
E.g a client may talk about how unlucky they are. A REBT therapist would identify their these examples as utopianism and challenge this as an irrational belief which involves a vigourous argument
What is a vigorous argument?
The intended effect is to change the irrational belief and so break the link between negative life events and depression
It is the hallmark of REBT
What are the different methods of disputing in vigorous arguments?
Empirical argument - disputing whether there is evidence to support the belief
Logical argument - disputing whether the negative thought logically follows from the fact
What is the reason for behavioural activation?
As individuals become depressed, they tend to increasingly avoid difficult situations and become isolated, which maintains or worsens symptoms.
What is the goal of behavioural activation?
Work with depressed people to gradually decrease their avoidance and isolation and increase their engagement in activities that have been shown to improve mood e.g going out for dinner
- The therapist aims to reinforce such activity
