TREATMENTS

Question 1

What is the biological treatment to manage depression? (Antidepressants)

Answer 1

SSRIs: Inhibits serotonin receptors in order to reduce the process of reuptake –> increase available serotonin that the individual is able to regulate into the post synaptic neuron
MAOIs: reduces MAOs - inhibits MAOs that prevent breakdown of serotonin –> increase available serotonin

Question 2

How does ECT help manage depression? (biological)

Answer 2

Procedure done under general anaesthesia - pass electric currents through the brain to induce small brain seizures

Question 3

Strengths of the biological - antidepressant treatment

Answer 3

• Usefulness: can be administered to patients that are in a severe state of the disorder
• Convenience: easily administered - encourages clients to manage their condition, eases with treatment

Question 4

Strengths of ECT (biological)

Answer 4

• Usefulness: patients with very severe depression, or in a catatonic state –> they do not have high cognitive ability to function normally
• Fast acting treatment

Question 5

Limitations of the biological treatment (antidepressants)

Answer 5

• Side effects: nausea, insomnia
• May take long to take effect: 3 - 6 months
• Risk of over reliance: reliance on medication to treat their symptoms - temporary cure: may not be able to deal with negative events on their own without other methods of treatment
  Short term drug effect - lead to relapse

Question 6

Limitations of ECT as a form of treatment (Biological)

Answer 6

• Short term effectiveness - not a long term sustainable cure
• -> Jalovec study: evidence that patients may relapse if not followed by other treatments
• May not be effective for some patients: old patients that may have underlying health problems –> intensify their symptoms

Question 7

What is REBT? How does it help manage depression? (cognitive behavioural)

Answer 7

Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy
focuses on altering irrational thoughts and beliefs enforced with help from direct dispute from the therapist themselves to find out strategies on changing it. - active cooperation between both parties

• ABC DEF Model
  A - Activating event: things that happened around them
  B - Beliefs: beliefs of irrational thoughts regarding to that situation
  C - Consequence: emotional response

D - Disruption: confronts and challenges client’s irrational thoughts and beliefs
E - Effect (new): new effect - reconsideration of thoughts, create new perspective towards situation
F - Feeling (new): new effects create positive outlook

Question 8

What is cognitive restructuring (similar to CBT)

Answer 8

a talking therapy that encourages the clients to challenge their own abnormal thinking processes that may lead up to the disorder, through the usage of socratic questioning.

Question 9

Evaluate the cognitive treatments in terms of its strengths

Answer 9

• Free will approach: faulty and irrational thinking can be approached, identified and challenged by these techniques for improvement
• -> Challenged through socratic questioning
• -> Encourages independence and responsibility in the clients part to alter their way of thinking, long term progress maintenance
• Empirical evidence of effectivenets

Question 10

Evaluate the cognitive treatments in terms of its limitations

Answer 10

• Reductionist: only addresses client’s specific thoughts/beliefs about one event
• Not effective for clients with severe depression
• REBT relies on therapist insights to correct the irrational beliefs of the client that causes the depression (individual explanation)
• -> risk of over reliance on the therapist