explanations of depression

Eliis' ABC model

A- activiating event

any occurrence which someone perceives as negative e.g. losing a job

B- beliefs

irrational thoughts associated with the event. e.g. I lost my job because i am so useless

C-consequences

• consequences of A and B. e.g. irrational beliefs may lead to certain actions, e.g. I am useless so I may as well not try and get a new one

strengths

• ABC model assigns responsibility for the individual to manage their thoughts, allowing some degree of control as to how to manage the consequences of activating event and beliefs

• theory takes idiographic approach, which is useful in the study of mental illnesses as no two experiences of depression are identical

weaknesses

• research shows depressed people are example of the ‘sadder but wiser’ effect which can be seen in the tendency for depressed people to give more accurate estimates of the likelihood of disorder than non-depressed people

• ABC model can account for reactive depression, where an individual reacts to an activating event, but not for endogenous depression, which develops without any accompanying activating event, so therefore lacks external validity