Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Cognitive Etiology of MDD - Coggle Diagram
Cognitive Etiology of MDD
Aaron Beck (1967) identified three mechanisms that he thought were responsible for depression
The Cognitive Triad - believing it's all about how a person thinks (automatic reaction/default response)
Three forms of negative thinking that are typical of individuals with depression; Negative view of oneself, the world, and the future. (all connected to one another)
Thoughts = Intensified Emotions (connected)
The person can be doubtful at first, but if the "script" is the same, the person will start to believe it. The therapist tries to change the "script" or pattern.
The triad interferes with normal cognitive processing, leading to impairments in perception, memory, and problem solving with the person becoming hyperfocused or obsessed with negative thoughts, increasing the intensity of the emotions.
Negative Self Schema - believed that depression-prone individuals develop a negative self-schema
Acquired in childhood as a result of a traumatic event. Some kind of stressful life event is required to activate this negative schema later in life then a number of illogical thoughts or cognitive biases seem to dominate thinking.
They possess a set of beliefs and expectations about themselves that are essentially negative.
Predisposes the individual to depression, therefore, someone who has acquired a cognitive triad will not necessarily develop depression.
Errors in Logic - tend to focus selectively on certain aspects of a situation while ignoring equally relevant information
People with negative self schemas become prone to making logical errors in their thinking
(1967) identified a number of systematic negative biases' in information processing (logical errors or faulty thinking)
self defeating, and can cause anxiety or depression for the individual
Arbitrary Inference
: Drawing a negative conclusion in the absence of supporting data.
Selective Abstraction
: Focusing on the worst aspects of any situation.
Magnification and Minimisation
: If they have a problem they make it appear bigger than it is. If they have a solution they make it smaller.
Personalization
: Negative events are interpreted as their fault.
Dichotomous Thinking
: Everything is seen as black and white. There is no in between.
Thoughts are exacerbated by the cognitive triad.
When a person's stream of automatic thoughts is very negative you would expect a person to become depressed.
Often these negative thoughts will persist even in the face of contrary evidence.
Experiences that may contribute to negative schemas:
Death of a parent or sibling
Parental rejection, criticism, overprotection, neglect, or abuse
Bullying at school or exclusion from peer group
The Self: "I'm ugly/worthless/a failure"
The Future: "I'm hopeless because things will always be this way"
The World: "No one loves me"
Alloy et al. (1999) followed the thinking styles of Americans in their early 20's for 6 years. Their thinking styles were tested and were placed in either the "positive thinking group" or "negative thinking group".
Results: Only 1% of the positive group developed depression compared to 17% of the "negative" group.
Indicates that there may be a link between cognitive style and the development of depression.
The results are correlational.
Study may suffer from demand characteristics. The precise role of cognitive processes is yet to be determined.
The maladaptive cognitions seen in depressed people may be a consequence rather than a cause of depression.
Martin Seligman (1974) proposed a cognitive explanation of depression called learned helplessness.
depression occurs when a person learns that their attempts to escape negative situations make no difference --> they become passive and will endure aversive stimuli or environments even when escape is possible.
Used dogs to research his theory (put into a partitioned cage learns to escape when the floor is electrified. If the dog is restrained while being shocked it eventually stops trying to escape. Then after being subjected to inescapable electric shocks, they failed to escape from shocks even when it was possible).
Dogs exhibited some of the symptoms found in human depression.
Learned Helplessness = the individual gives up trying to influence their environment because they have learned that they are helpless as a consequence of having no control over what happens to them. (ex. abusive relationships).
Fails to take into account cognitions (thoughts).
Lethargy, sluggishness, passive in the face of stress and appetite loss
Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale (1978) introduced a cognitive version of the theory by reformulating learned helplessness in term of attributional processes (how people explain the cause of an event).
The depression attributional style is based on three dimensions:
Locus
(whether the cause is internal- to do with a person themselves, or external- to do with some aspect of the situation)
Stability
(whether the cause is stable and permanent or unstable and transient)
Global or Specific
(whether the cause relates to the 'whole' person or just some particular feature characteristic)
The mere presence of a negative event was not considered sufficient to produce a helpless or depressive state.
People who attribute failure to internal, stable, and global causes are more likely to become depressed.
The former attributional style (external, unstable, and specific) leads people to the conclusion that they are unable to change things for the better.
(Ex. External = someone stole your cellphone, Unstable = you were randomly chosen for the theft, Specific = it happened during a Christmas rush sale)
Theoretical Assumption: The patterns of how an individual interprets various life events and their influence on the development of the disorder.
Other Studies on Depression
Joiner et al (1996)
Patterns of cognition alone are not enough to lead to depression, they must also be in response to environmental stimuli.
Nolen-Hoeksema (2000)
Rumination appears to more consistently predict the onset of depression rather than the duration, but rumination in combination with negative cognitive styles can predict the duration of depressive symptoms.
Farb et al (2011)
Relapsing patients showed more activity in a frontal region of the brain, known as the medial prefrontal gyrus. These responses were also linked to higher rumination.