cognitive/biological explanations of depression

what is depression

mood disorder

what is a mood disorder

used to explain disorders that affect the emotional state of those suffering from them, meaning the current emotional mood is distorted or inappropriate to the circumstances

what is depression characterised by

- low mood, low energy levels

- affects thoughts, feelings, behaviour, and physical well-being of the individuals

what is clinical depression

- not merely feeling sadness but rather a set of complex symptoms

what msut symptoms cause for clinical depression

- distress of impaired functioning in social and or occupational roles

what percent of visits to doctors for the first time are about clinical depression

- 40%, usually for physical symptoms

what are some physical symptoms of clinical depression

- aches

- pain

- lack of energy

- palpatations

- headaches

- stomach upsets

- sleep disturbances

- loss of appetite/weight

what do behavioural symptoms mean

how a person acts

what are the behavioural symptoms of depression

- loss of energy

- sleep disturbance

- changes in appetite

- change in activity level

- constant tiredness

what does emotional symptoms means

how a person feels

what are some emotional symptoms of clinical depression

- feelings of sadness

- feelings of worthlessness

- lack of interest in all activities

- lack of pleasure in all activities

what do cognitive symptoms refer to

how a person thinks

what are cognitive symptoms of clinical depression

- difficulty concentrating

- focus on negatives ignoring the positives

- experience recurrent thoughts of self-harm death or suicide

what are the 5 catagories of depression

- major depressive disorder

- persistent depressive disorder

- disruptive mood regulation disorder

- premenstural dysphoric disorder

what is major depressive disorder

severe but often short-term depression

what is persistent depressive disorder

long term or recurring depression including sustained major depression

what is disruptive mood dysregulation disorder

childhood temper tantrums

what is premenstural dysphoric disorder

disruption to mood prior to or during menstruation

what cognitive apparoaches do we look at

- beck

- ellis

what did beck believe

depression is a result of disturbance in thinking

what does becks theory focus on

individuals negatove thoughts, irrational beliefs, and misinterpretation of events as being the cause of depression

what 3 parts suggest cognitive vulnerability

- faulty information processing

- nehative self-schema

- the negative triad

what did the faulty information processing propose

- people who are depressed make fundamental errors in logic

- proposed depressed people tend to selectively attend to the negatives of a situation, ignoring the positives

- tendency to blow small problems out of proportion

- thinking in terms of black and white ignoring the middle ground

what did beck claim about cognitive biases

- those with them are more likely to experience depression

what is a schema

a building block of knowledge aka a package of ideas and information that has developed with experience

what is a negative self-schema

ideas about ourselves are built from criticisms or nagtive experiences so interpret everuthing sbout them negatuvely

what study did we look at for negative self-schemas

weissman and beck 1978

what was the aim of weissman and beck 1978

to investigate the though processes of depressed people to establish if they make use of negative schemas

what is the procedure of weissman and beck 1978

thought processwes were measured using the dysfunctional attitude scaled (DAS), and the p's were asked to fill in questionnaire by ticking whether they agreed or disagreed with a dset of statements

- p's answered DAS

what was the result of weissman and beck 1978

found depressed p's made more negative assessments than non-depressed people, when given therapy for the negative schemas there was an improvement in self ratings

what was the conclusion of weissman and beck 1978

depression involves use of negative self-schemas

what does the negative triad suggest

people with depression become trapped in a cycle of negative thoughtd and have a tendency to view themselves, the world, and the future in pessimistic ways

what did ellis propose

good mental health is the result of rational thinking

what did ellis argue

codmmon irrational beliefs that underlie depression and sufferers have based their lives on those beliefs

what model did ellis propose

ABC model

what does the ABC model stand for

activating event, beliefs, consequences

what did ellis believe about beliefs

that they are subject to cognitive biases and they then use irrational thinking which may produce undersireable behaviours

what are the strengths of cognitive treatments

- practical applications -> CBT, REBT to identify and callenge negative irrational thoughts have been successfully used to treat people with depression

- research support -> BOURY ET AL 2001 -> found patients woth depression were more likely to misinterpret information negativey and feel opeless about thwir future

what are the limits of cognitive treatments

- no cause and effect -> doesnt explain origin of irrational thoughts so unable to determine if negative irrational thoughts lead to depression or vice versa

- alt theories -> some suggest depression is biological and drug therapies increase the levels of serotonin

what is the biological explanation of depression

genes and neurotransmitters may cause depression

which apparoach is adviseable in biological explanations

diathesis-stress approach

what does the diathesis-stress approach suggest

individuals with a genetic vulnerability for depression are more prone to effects of living in a negative environmemnt leading to negative irrational thinking

are drug therapies successful intreating depression

yes, thus proves neurotransmitters also have an important role