Depression

Mood disorder
Major Depressive Disorder: severe but ST
Persistent Depressive Disorder: LT or reoccuring
Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder: temper tantrums
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: mood change prior to or during menstruation
Behavioural
1. Disruption to sleeping & eating
2. Loss of energy
Emotional
1. Constant depressed mood
2. Anger
Cognitive
1. Focusing & dwelling on the negatives
2. Poor concentration
Explanations (Cognitive Approach)
1. 1. Beck's Negative Triad
  1. People become depressed because they see the world negatively through negative schemas
  2. Negative schemas develop during childhood & adolescence
    1. Caused by parental/peer rejection or criticism from teachers for example
  3. Creates a 'cognitive vulnerability' which leads to depression
  4. Good Supporting Evidence. Depression is linked to negative schemas.. Grazoli & Terry found pregnant women who were judged to be cognitively vulnerable were more likely to suffer from post natal depression. Supports the idea that cognition causes depression
2. 2. Ellis' ABC Model
  1. Depression is a result of IRRATIONAL THOUGHTS
  2. Irrational beliefs lie in mustabatory thinking
    1. These 'musts' need to be challenged to keep a person healthy mentally
  3. Beliefs can be rational or irrational
    1. If it is rational it leads to healthy emotions, if it's irrational it leads to unhealthy emotions
  4. Not all irrational beliefs are inaccurate. Eg... someone living in poverty may be accurate in thinking negatively about their lives because it's genuinely difficult. Problem as it's more helpful to change a persons situation instead of changing their thinking about that situation
3. Practical Applications. CBT has been developed based on these explanations. March found that CBT was 81% effective. Explanations are useful in developing treatments and improving the lives of sufferers
4. Not Deterministic. Approach suggests that depression is due to a person's thinking which they can control this makes it inhumane as it argues a person needs to change their thinking in order to recover. This places a large burden on sufferers (who are already prone to negative thinking)
5. Doesn't give a full understanding of depression. It can't explain symptoms like anger, hallucinations or delusions. Suggests that the cognitive approach alone isn't sufficient to give a full understanding.
Treatment (Cognitive Approach)
1. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
  1. CBT aims to replace irrational thoughts with positive, rational ones
  2. Therapist teaches their client to write down ABC after a difficult situation
  3. Then they're encourage to DISPUTE their irrational belief by writing something that will challenge that
  4. Eventually a sufferer will learn to do this process in their head
  5. Clients should feel the EFFECT of challenging irrational thoughts by becoming less anxious
  6. Clients are given HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
  7. Encouraged to keep DIARIES to monitor events
  8. Effective treatment. CBT helps change a persons thinking,
  9. No side effects. Unlike drug therapy which is also invasive. CBT is more effective in the long term resulting in permanent changes to thinking
  10. Economic benefits. Mental health issues cost £22.5 billion a year (not including indirect costs like loss of employment). CBT helps to reduces costs for drug treatment which may not work. CBT has a positive impact on lives and the economy.
  11. Doesn't work for everyone. Requires a patient to commit to regular therapy sessions, which is disruptive to daily life. Drugs may be better as it reduces symptoms quickly. Also people with depression have a lack of motivation so it's not an effective treatment for depression
  12. Ethics - harsh treatment. CBT suggests depression is caused by a person's thinking which they can change. It's a problem as it burdens a person prone to negativity with the blame

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Depression

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	Created by Erum Jamil over 7 years ago