BECK’S COGNITIVE THEORY OF DEPRESSION
– In 1967 American Psychiatrist Aaron Beck suggested a cognitive approach to explaining why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others.
– The way people think effects this the most
FAULTY INFORMATION PROCESSING
– When depressed we attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore positives.
– We also tend to blow small problems out of proportion and think in ‘black and white’ terms.
NEGATIVE SELF-SCHEMAS
– This is a package of ideas and information developed through experience.
– They act as a mental framework for the interpretation of sensory information.
– A self-schema is the package of information we have about ourselves.
– 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
– A person develops a dysfunctional view of themselves because of three types of negative thinking that occur automatically, regardless of the reality of what is happening at the time and this is the negative triad.
- A) Negative view of the world – There’s no hope anywhere
- B) Negative view of the future – Reduce hopefulness and enhance depression
- C) Negative view of the self – Enhance any existing depressive feelings because they confirm the existing emotions of low self esteem
EVALUATION OF BECK’S COGNITIVE THEORY OF DEPRESSION
STRENGTHS
Supporting Evidence
– This theory of depression has good supporting evidence.
– For example, in 2000 Grazioli and Terry assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability and depression before and after birth.
– They found that those women judged to have been high in cognitive vulnerability were more likely to suffer post-natal depression.
Practical Application
– A strength of this explanation is that it forms the basis of a cognitive behavioural therapy.
– All cognitive aspects of depression can be identified and challenged in CBT.
– These include the components of the negative triad that are easily identifiable.
– This means a therapist can challenge them and encourage the patient to test whether they are true.
– This is a strength of the explanation because it translates well into a successful therapy.
LIMITATION
Doesn’t Explain all Aspects of Behaviour
– Depression is complex.
– Some depressed patients are deeply angry and Beck cannot easily explain this extreme emotion.
– Some sufferers of emotion also suffer from hallucinations and bizarre beliefs.
– Beck’s theory cannot easily explain these cases.
ELLIS’S ABC MODEL
– In 1962 Albert Ellis suggested a different cognitive explanation of depression.
– He proposed that good mental health is the result of rational thinking, defined as thinking in ways that allow people to be happy and free of pain.
– To Ellis, conditions like anxiety and depression result from irrational thoughts.
– He used the ABC model to explain how irrational thoughts affect our behaviour and emotional state.
A – ACTIVATING EVENT
– Ellis focused on situations in which irrational thoughts are triggered by external events.
– According to Ellis we get depressed when we experience negative effects and these trigger irrational beliefs.
B – BELIEFS
– Ellis called the belief that we must always succeed or achieve perfection ‘musturbation’. ‘I-can’t stand- it-itis’ is the belief that it is a major disaster whenever something does not go smoothly.
C –CONSEQUENCES
– When an activating event triggers irrational beliefs there are emotional and behavioural consequences.
– For example, if you believe you must always succeed and then fail at something this can trigger depression.
EVALUATION OF ELLIS’S ABC MODEL
STRENGTH
Practical Application
– A strength of this explanation is that it has led to a successful therapy.
– The idea that, by challenging irrational negative beliefs, a person can reduce their depression is supported by research evidence.
– This is turn supports the basic theory because it suggests that the irrational beliefs had some role in the depression.
LIMITATION
Limited Explanation
– This explanation does not explain the anger associated with depression or the fact that some patients suffer hallucinations and delusions.
– Additionally, There is no doubt that some cases of depression follow activating events.
– Psychologists call this reactive depression and see it as different from the kind of depression that arises without an obvious cause.
– This means that Ellis’s explanation only applies to some kinds of depression and is therefore only a partial explanation for depression.