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Cognitive Etiology on MDD - Coggle Diagram
Cognitive Etiology on MDD
Studies
Alloy et al. (1999)
Followed the thinking styles of young Americans in their early 20s for 6 years. Participants were placed in either the 'positive thinking group' or 'negative thinking group. After 6 years, the researchers found that only 1% of the positive group developed depression compared to 17% of the 'negative' group
Results indicate a potential link between cognitive style and the development of depression
However, the study may suffer from demand characteristics, and the results are correlational, indicating that the precise role of cognitive processes in depression is yet to be determined
Martin Seligman (1974)
Proposed that depression occurs when a person learns that their attempts to escape negative situations make no difference. This learned helplessness leads to a passive response and endurance of aversive stimuli, even when escape is possible.
Based on research using dogs, where dogs subjected to inescapable electric shocks later failed to escape from shocks even when it was possible to do so, exhibiting symptoms of depression found in humans.
Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale (1978)
Introduced a cognitive version of learned helplessness theory based on attributional processes and highlighted the role of attributional style in the development of depression, emphasizing the importance of how people explain the cause of an event.
The depression attributional style is based on three dimensions: locus (internal vs. external), stability (stable vs. unstable), and global or specific causes (whole vs particular feature characteristic)
Abramson et al. proposed that individuals attributing failure to internal, stable, and global causes are more prone to depression.
In contrast, those attributing failure to external, unstable, and specific causes are less likely to become depressed.
Individuals with an attributional style of internal (blaming oneself), stable (seeing the cause as unchangeable), and global (applying to various aspects of life) are at a higher risk for depression.
The external, unstable, and specific attributional style implies that the individual sees the cause as external, temporary, and specific to the situation. This style can lead to the conclusion that one has the ability to change things for the better.
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.
Aaron Beck's Mechanisms for Depression
Cognitive triad
The Self
depressed individuals tend to view
themselves as helpless, worthless, and inadequate.
As these three components interact, they interfere with normal cognitive processing, leading to impairments in perception, memory and problem solving with the person becoming obsessed with negative thoughts.
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.
The Future
Finally, they see the future as totally hopeless because their worthlessness will prevent their situation improving.
negative self schemas
depression-prone individuals develop negative self-schemas, which are essentially negative and pessimistic beliefs about themselves.
These negative schemas may be acquired in childhood due to traumatic events, such as death of a family, parental rejection, criticism, abuse, or bullying.
However, acquiring a cognitive triad does not guarantee the development of depression.
Merely having a cognitive triad doesn't lead to depression; external triggers are essential.
The activation of the negative schema (cognitive triad) later in life requires some kind of stressful life event.
Once the negative schema are activated, illogical thoughts and cognitive biases tend to dominate thinking.
errors in logic
Individuals with negative self-schemas are prone to making logical errors in their thinking. They tend to focus selectively on certain aspects of a situation while ignoring equally relevant information.
Beck identified a number of systematic negative bias' in information processing known as logical errors or faulty thinking. These illogical thought patterns are self-defeating, and can cause great anxiety or depression for the individual.
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.
Arbitrary Inference
Drawing a negative
conclusion in the absence of supporting data
Personalization
Negative events are interpreted
as their fault
Dichotomous Thinking
Everything is seen as
black and white. There is no in between.
Such thoughts exacerbate, and are exacerbated by the
cognitive triad.
Beck believed these thoughts or this way of thinking become automatic. When a person’s stream of automatic thoughts is very negative you would expect a person to become depressed. Quite often these negative thoughts will persist even in the face of contrary evidence.
These mechanisms shape an individual's thought patterns and cognitive processing, leading to depressive symptoms.
Theoretical Assumption
Patterns of information processing influence the development of the disorder