outline and evaluate the cognitive approach to explaining depression

AO1 - becks cognitive triad

cognitive theories for explaining depression include Becks cognitive triad and ellis’s ABC model.

Beck claimed depression is caused by negative self schemas and cognitive biases that maintain a cognitive (negative) triad; a negative view of ourselves, the future and the world around us.

According to Beck, depressed people possess negative self schemas, caused by negative experiences in childhood, for example criticism from parents. Furthermore, beck found that depressed people are more likely to focus on the negative aspects of a situation, while ignoring the positives and this distorts information, a process known as cognitive bias, and includes overgeneralising.

for example, ‘ive failed one test so I will fail ALL of my exams!’

AO1 - ellis proposed the ABC three stage model

this was to explain how irrational thoughts can lead to depression. An activating event (A) occurs, fro example you pass a friend in the corridor at school and they ignore you, when you say ‘hello’. Your belief (B) is your interpretation,w which could either be rational or irrational.

According to ellis, an irrational belief (e.g my friend must hate me) can lead to unhealthy emotional consequences (C), including depression.

AO3 - strength of cognitive explanation is its application to therapy

Cognitive explanations have been used to develop effective treatments for depression, including CBT and rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT), which was developed from Ellis’s ABC model.
These therapies attempt to identify and challenge negative, irrational thoughts and have been successfully used to treat people with depression, providing further support to the cognitive explanation of depression.

AO3 limitation - doesnt explain the origin of irrational thoughts

since most of the research in this area is correlational, psychologists are unable to determine if negative, irrational thoughts cause depression or whether a persons depression leads to a negative mindset

consequently it is possible that other factors, for example genes and neurotransmitters, are the cause of depression and the negative, irrational thoughts are the symptom of depression

AO3 - alternative explanations

they suggest that depression is a biological condition, caused by genes and neurotransmitters.

Research focused not he role of serotonin has found lower levels in patients with depression. In addition, drug therapies, including SSRIs which increase the level of serotonin, are found to be effective in the treatment of depression which provide further support for the role of neurotransmitters in the development of depression

this therefore casts doubt on the cognitive explanation as a sole cause of the disorder.

AO3 - support of cognitive explanation

There is research evidence which supports the cognitive

explanation of depression. Boury et al. (2001) found that

patients with depression were more likely to misinterpret

information negatively (cognitive bias) and feel hopeless

about their future (cognitive triad). Further to this, Bates et al.

(1999) gave depressed patients negative automatic thought

statements to read and found that their symptoms became

worse. These findings support different components of Beck’s

theory and the idea that negative thinking is involved in

depression.