Depression

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  • Created by: gemshort
  • Created on: 16-11-17 11:31
Depression
A mental disorder characterised by low mood and low energy levels
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What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
Activity levels, disruption to sleep and eating behaviour and aggression and self-harm
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Activity levels
Sufferers of depression have reduced levels of energy, making them lethargic
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What is psychomotor agitation?
When an individual struggles to relax and may pace up and down a room
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Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
Depression is associated with changes to sleeping behaviour (insomnia or hypersomnia) and changes to eating behaviour which may result in weight gain or loss
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Aggression and self-harm
Sufferers of depression are often irritable and can become verbally/physically aggressive. Depression can also lead to physical aggression against the self
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What are the emotional characteristics of depression?
Lowered mood, anger and lowered self-esteem
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Lowered mood
Lowered mood is a defining emotional element of depression but it is more pronounced than the daily experience of feeling lethargic or sad. Patients often describe themselves as 'worthless' or 'empty'
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Anger
Sufferers of depression frequently experience anger, which can be directed at the self or others
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Lowered self-esteem
Sufferers of depression tend to report reduced self-esteem and sometimes even self-loathing (hating themselves)
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What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?
Poor concentration, attending to and dwelling on the negative and absolutist thinking
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Poor concentration
Depression is associated with poor levels of concentration. They may find themselves unable to stick with a task or make decisions they would usually find straight-forward
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Attending to and dwelling on the negative
When depressed, people are more inclined to pay attention to the negative aspects of a situation rather than the positive ones. They also have a bias towards recalling unhappy events rather than happy ones - the opposite bias than most people have
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Absolutist thinking
When a person is depressed they tend to think of things as either all-good or all-bad. This is sometimes called black-and-white thinking
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Negative triad
Beck proposed that there were three kinds of negative thinking that contributed to becoming depressed: negative views of the world, the future and the self. Such views make people more vulnerable to depression
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ABC model
Ellis proposed that depression occurs when an activating event triggers irrational beliefs which produces a consequence, i.e. an emotional response like depression. The key to this process is the irrational beliefs
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What three elements did Beck suggest were part of cognitive vulnerability to depression?
Faulty information processing, negative self-schemas and the negative triad
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Faulty information processing
When depressed, we attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives. We blow small problems out of proportion and think in black-and-white terms
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Negative self-schemas
If we have a negative self-schema, we interpret all information about ourselves in a negative way
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What are two strengths of Beck's theory?
It is supported by research evidence and it has practical application
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What is one weakness of Beck's theory?
It is not a comprehensive explanation
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What did Ellis suggest good mental health was the result of?
Good mental health is the result of rational thinking, defined as thinking in ways which allow us to be happy and free of pain
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What did Ellis believe conditions like anxiety and depression resulted from?
Ellis believed conditions like anxiety and depression result from irrational thoughts, which are thoughts that interfere with us being happy and free of pain
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Activating event
According to Ellis, we get depressed when we experience negative events and these trigger irrational beliefs
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Irrational beliefs
Ellis identified a range of irrational beliefs, for example 'utopianism' (the belief that the world should always be fair) and 'musterbation' (the belief that we should always achieve perfection)
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Consequences
When an activating event triggers irrational beliefs, there are emotional and behavioural consequences
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What are two strengths of Ellis' theory?
It has practical application and studies of attachment support it
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What is one weaknesses of Ellis' theory?
It is only a partial explanation
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Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)
A method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques. The therapy aims to deal with thinking, such as challenging negative thoughts, and also includes behavioural techniques such as behavioural activation
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What is the most commonly used psychological treatment for depression?
CBT
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What does CBT involve?
CBT involves the therapist and patient clarifying the patient's problems, jointly identifying goals for the therapy and identifying where there might be irrational thoughts that will benefit from change
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How does Beck's cognitive therapy help patients with depression?
The idea behind the therapy is to identify automatic negative thoughts about the world, future and the self (the negative triad) and then challenge them
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What does 'patient as scientist' mean?
Patients investigate whether their negative beliefs are true through homework set by the therapist, i.e. to record moments they felt happy/enjoyed events
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What is the ABCDE model in Ellis' rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)?
A - activating event; B - irrational beliefs; C - consequences; D - dispute; E - effect
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What is the central technique of REBT?
To identify and dispute irrational thoughts
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What is a vigorous argument in REBT?
When the patient and therapist dispute whether the patient's irrational beliefs are true
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What is behavioural activation?
The therapist works to encourage a depressed patient to be more active and engage in enjoyable activities
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

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What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?

Back

Activity levels, disruption to sleep and eating behaviour and aggression and self-harm

Card 3

Front

Activity levels

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What is psychomotor agitation?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour

Back

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