Cognitive approach to explaining depression

Ellis’ ABC model 1962

key to mental disorders lay in irrational beliefs

• A = active event (get fired)

• B = belief (company was over staffed)

• C = consequence (rational beliefs lead to healthy emotions - acceptance - irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotions

musturbatory thinking

thinking that certain beliefs or assumptions must be true in order for the individual to be happy

• i must be approaved of or accepte by people i find important

• I must do well or i am worthless

• The world must give me happiness, or i will die

An individual who holds such assumptions is bound to be disappointed and at worst - depressed.

Beck’s negative triad 1967

believed that depressed individuals feel as they do because their thinking is biased towards negative interpretations of the world and lack a sense of control

Negative schema

depressed people have acquired a negative schema trough childhood

• may be caused by parental / peer rejection

• These negative schemas are activated whenever a person encounters a new situation that resembles the original conditions

• Negative schemas lead to systematic cognitive biases in thinking

The negative triad

negative schemas and cignitive biases maintains the negative triad

• negative view of the self → negative view of world → negative view of the future

Evaluation

blames the client rather than situational factors

• placing of emphasis in the client is a good thing s it gives the client the power to change the way things are

• However this has limitations - may lead to the client or therapist to overlook situational factorsevaluations

Evaluation

practical applications in therapy

• cognitive explainations have been applied to CBT which is found as the most effective treatment for depression, especially with other drug treatment

evaluation

Irrational beliefs may be realistic

• alloy and abramson (1979) Suggest that depressive realists tend to see things for what they are.

• They found that depressed people gave more accurate estimates in the likelihood of a disaster than normal controls - sadder but wiser effect