Cognitive Etiology of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
Three Mechanisms that are responsible for depression according to Beck (1967)
Theoretical Assumption
how an individual processes information such as their experiences affects how the disorder develops
The cognitive triad
Negative self schemas
Errors in logic
the three components that interact that can interfere with normal cognitive processing
leads to impairments in perception, memory, and problem solving as the person obsesses over negative thoughts
The Future
The World
The Self
A depressed person views themselves as worthless and helpless
A depressed person thinks that they would stop themselves from making the future better than their current situation
A depressed person will view the world as too challenging for themselves as if they are defeated by it
When a depression prone individual possesses a set of negative and pessimistic beliefs and expectations about themselves
can be acquired in childhood as a result of a traumatic event
examples
death of a family member
parental rejection, criticism, overprotection, neglect, or abuse
bullying or exclusion from a peer group
having a negative self-schema predisposes an individual to depression
A stressful life event is needed for a negative schema to be developed within an individual later in life
a negative schema can cause illogical thoughts
people with negative self-schemas are more likely to have errors in logic
illogical thought patterns are self-defeating and may cause depression or anxiety in an individual
Beck (19667) identified a number of systematic negative biases in information processing
Selective Abstraction - focusing on the worst aspects of any situation
Magnification and minimisation - making a problem appear bigger than it is and making the solution seem smaller
Arbitrary Inference - drawing negative conclusions in the absence of supporting data
Personalization - negative events are interpreted as their fault
Dichotomous Thinking - Everything is seen as black and white, no in between
exacerbate and are exacerbated by cognitive triad
Learned Helplessness = a cognitive explanation of depression by Martin Seligman (1974)
"depression occurs when a person learns that their attempts to escape negative situations make no difference"
causes a person to endure aversive environments even though escape is possible
used dogs to test his theory
a dog in a partitioned cage learns how to escape when the floor is electrified, but dogs that are subjected to inescapable electric shocks chose not to escape even when it was possible. (these dogs also displayed some symptoms of depression such as sluggishness, passive in the face of stress, and loss of appetite)
individuals also give up trying to change their environment after learning that they are helpless as a consequence of having no control over what happens to them
explains depression to a certain extent
fail to take into account cognition
Attributional Processes = a cognitive version of Learned Helplessness by Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale (1978)
depression attributional style is based on three dimensions
stability - whether the cause is stable or permanent or unstable and transient
global or specific - whether the cause relates to the whole person or just a particular feature or characteristic
locus - whether the cause is internal (to do with the person themselves) or external (to do with some aspect of the situation)
people who atribute failure to be internal, stable, and global causes are more likely to become depressed than those who attribute failure to be external, unstable, and specific
external, unstable, and specific leads people to the conclusion that they are unable to change things for the better