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Cognitive Etiology of Depression - Coggle Diagram
Cognitive Etiology of Depression
Aaron Beck:
A psychologist dedicated to study of Depression. He identified 3 mechanisms theorized to be responsible for Depression in 1967
2. Negative Self-Schemas
: People prone to depression often develop a negative self-schema. This refers to a set of beliefs and expectations for the self that are unrealistically negative and pessimistic.
These negative schemas may be developed due to traumatic event or conditions that one experiences during their
childhood
. Ex. Poverty, negative or abusive family members.
Other experiences that can contribute to negative schemas include:
Death of a parent or sibling, parental rejection or criticism (Lack of love and validation), and bullying and exclusion from peer group.
A person who has acquired the
cognitive triad
alone may not develop depression given that their view of the self is stable. A negative self-schema predisposes an individual to depression.
A
stressful life event
is required to activate the negative self-schema (that was developed early in life) later in life. Such type of event can cause one to go on 'auto-pilot' mode as they uncontrollably rely on their negative view of self. As a result, illogical and biased thinking will dominate.
3. Errors in Logic
: The distortion of information received from stimulus from our environment. (Cognitive Distortion) A person with errors in logic will view an event / concept drastically different (more negatively) than the common perception.
There are many types of Errors in Logic / Cognitive distortions, the more common ones are:
3. Magnification and Minimization:
A person will tend to blow problems out of proportion and view them bigger than they are (Magnification) and dismiss or avoid possible solutions (Minimization). As a result, they will have inappropriate responses.
4. Personalization:
A person will interpret
all
problems as their own fault. (Self-Accusation and Deprecation)
2. Selective Abstraction:
A person will focus solely on the worst aspects of a situation despite the presence of both good and bad. (Tunnel Vision)
5. Dichotomous Thinking:
A person views the world as black or white. They have a very structured way of thinking that inhibits the possibility of compromise. This leads to harsh conclusions and decisions.
1. Arbitrary Inference:
A person draws a negative conclusion without justification. They have no supporting data or evidence.
Being susceptible to these cognitive distortions makes it difficult for one to deal with situations that could potentially put them in a depressive state. They are detrimental to an individual as all errors in logic focus on and lead to negativity. They can also be further exacerbate or be exacerbated by the
cognitive triad.
This distortion can easily be noticed in the way a person talks or presents themselves.
A person that possesses these cognitive distortions may have protective factors that manages the impact and lessens the chance of developing depression. A person may only be susceptible to one or all types of errors in logic.
This is developed over time from the environment and interaction with other people.
1. The Cognitive Triad
: Three forms of negative thinking about
the self, the world, the future
, that are commonly observed in individuals with depression. (Ex. overly-critical, helpless). These thoughts are automatic and spontaneous, the person does not need to decide on it.
Negative view of
the self, the world, and the future
, all interact with each other. One view can impact another view. The self is the common factor of the triad. A person commonly views the world and future in relation to the self. These views can also be focused on others.
Example:
A depressed person will view themselves as worthless, inadequate, and helpless.
"I'm not good enough" "I'm a terrible mother" "There is no hope for me"
Interpretation of events is often very negative and defeatist, to the point that it is unrealistic. The world is viewed as an obstacle that they cannot overcome.
They have no hope for the future and believe they cannot change / improve their situation. This can be due to feeling worthless
"I'm not good enough to change my situation" "Things will always be this way"
The interaction of these views result in impairment in perception. They will constantly have a negative lens when processing information. As a result, memory is impaired as the stored information will always be negative, The person will deal with their problems in negative ways. They overall become obsessed with negative thoughts.
Supporting Study for Errors in Logic
: Alloy et al. (1999)
Aim / Procedure
: The researchers followed and observed the thinking style of young Americans in their 20's for 6 years. Their styles were either placed in 'negative thinking group' or 'positive thinking group'.
Findings:
At the end of the 6 years, only 1% of the positive thinking group developed depression and 17% of the negative thinking group developed depression. They concluded that this demonstrates a link between cognitive thinking style and development of depression.
The study may be biased due to demand characteristics, the researchers had expectations regarding the results. The results are correlational and not clearly causation. Follow up studies suggest that such maladaptive cognitions observed in depressed people could be the consequence rather than the cause. So far, the role of cognitive processes in development of depression has yet to be fully determined.
Learned Helplessness
: The theory that depression occurs when a person learns that their attempts to escape negative situations do not make a difference. This theory views depression in the perspective of the subject and how they learn to be "powerless" due to constantly finding themselves in negative situations.
The result of
Learned Helplessness
is that a person will stop trying to put effort into escaping negative situations. They become passive and endure aversive stimuli or environments if if there is a possible solution.
Supporting Study for Learned Helplessness:
Seligman (1974)
Procedure:
A dog was placed in a cage. The cage had two sides: a safe space, and a space where the dog could be electrocuted. The dog was restrained and shocked simultaneously, and then eventually released from the restraint.
Results:
When the dog was restrained while being shocked, it eventually stopped trying to escape even when free. The dogs that experienced inescapable shocks failed to escape from shocks when it was possible as they did not even attempt to do so. Other symptoms of depression observed in the dogs included lethargy, sluggishness, and passiveness. The study supports the theory as it exhibits how one will give up trying to escape their environment due to helplessness that stems from having no control.
The study is not able to take cognitive processes into account as they only could observe behavior. (Lead to proposal of Attributional Processes)
Martin Seligman
: A researcher for depression that proposed a cognitive explanation called "Learned Helplessness" responsible for depression, in 1974.
Attributional Processes:
How people explain the cause of an effect. This attributional style is based on three dimensions.
2.
stability
:
Whether the cause is stable and permanent (Does not go away) or unstable and transient (Will pass)
3.
global or specific:
Whether the cause relates to the whole person or simply a particular feature or characteristic of the person
1.
locus:
Whether the cause is internal (relating to themselves) or external (relating to an aspect of the situation)
The theory suggests that a negative event by itself does not produce a helpless or depressive state (As proposed by initial Learned Helplessness Theory). It argues that people who attribute failure to internal, stable, and global causes are likely to develop depression rather than those who view causes to be external, unstable, and specific.
The attributional style of internal, stable, and global, is the thought process that can lead people to the conclusion that they cannot change or improve their situation.
Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdal
e reformulated a cognitive version of Learned Helplessness theory in 1978
The cognitive approach assumes that our patterns of processing influence the development of depression. The focus is on an individual's beliefs and ways of thinking rather than their behavior.