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Cognitive Etiology of MDD (Patterns of Information processing Influencing…
Cognitive Etiology of MDD (Patterns of Information processing Influencing the development of MDD)
Beck (1967) - Discovered three mechanisms thought to be responsible for depression
Negative self schemas
Experiences that may contribute (Stressful life event is required to activate)
Parental rejection, criticism, overprotection, neglect
or abuse
Bullying at school or exclusion from peer group.
Death of a parent/sibling
A set of beliefs and expectations about themselves that are essentially negative and pessimistic
Errors In logic
Types
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.
Arbitrary Inference: Drawing a negative
conclusion in the absence of supporting data.
Negative self-schemas make people prone to logical error and systematic negative bias' in Information processing.
Can cause anxiety or depression.
Focus on specific aspects-- Ignoring equally relevant Information.
Exacerbated by Cognitive Triad
Negative thought patterns become automatic over time which can lead to depression.
The cognitive triad (Not definite to develop depression)
Negative view of the self
Depressed individuals tend to view
themselves as helpless, worthless, and inadequate.
Negative view of the world
They interpret events in the world in a unrealistically
negative and defeatist way, and they see the world as
posing obstacles that can’t be handled.
Negative view of the future
They see the future as totally hopeless because
their worthlessness will prevent their situation
improving.
Effect
Impairments in perception, memory and problem solving with the person becoming obsessed with negative thoughts.
Typical negative thinking In Individuals with depression
Studies
Alloy et al. (1999)
Aimed to Investigate If one's thinking patterns could be used to predict the onset of depression
Participants: Young Americans in their early 20's
Procedure: Tested their thinking styles and placed them Into either a positive or negative thinking group.
Results: After 6 years 1% of the positive group and 17% of the negative group developed depression.
May be a link between cognitive style and development of depression
Evaluation: Maladaptive cognitions In depressed people may be a consequence not a cause. Limitation in demand characteristics and only shows correlatin.
Martin Seligman (1974)
Learned helplessness theory: depression occurs when a person learns that their attempts to escape negative situations make no difference. Results In becoming passive and enduring aversive stimuli/environments even when escape Is possible. (You feel like you have no way to escape, so eventually you just stop trying)
Participants: Dogs
Procedure: A dog Is put Into a cage and learns to escape when the floor Is electrified. Then the dog Is restrained while being shocked.
Results: Dogs subjected to inescapable electric shocks later
failed to escape from shocks even when it was possible. The dog eventually stops trying to escape. The dog exhibited some symptoms of depression found in humans (lethargy, sluggishness, passive in the face of stress and appetite loss).
Individuals that think have no control over what happens to them may give up trying to Influence their environment because they have learned they are helpless.
Evaluation: Basically all ethical considerations were Ignored. Fails to take Into account cognitions/thoughts.
Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale (1978)
Introduced a cognitive version by reformulating learned helplessness in terms of attributional processes. (How people explain the cause of an event)
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
People who attribute failure to internal, stable, and global causes are more likely to become depressed than those who attribute failure to external, unstable and specific causes.
Blaming external, unstable, and specific causes leads people to believe they cannot change things for the better and do not blame it on themselves
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.