Discuss the cognitive approach to treating depression. (16)
Cognitive theories for explaining depression include Beck’s Cognitive Triad and Ellis’s A-B-C Model.
Beck claimed depression is caused by negative self-schemas and cognitive biases that maintain a
cognitive (negative) triad: a negative view of ourselves, the future and the world around us.
According to Beck, depressed people possess negative self-schemas, caused by negative experiences
in childhood, for example, criticism from parents. Furthermore, Beck found that depressed people
are more likely to focus on the negative aspects of a situation, while ignoring the positives. This
distorts information, a process known as cognitive bias, and includes overgeneralising.
Ellis proposed the A-B-C three-stage model, to explain how irrational thoughts can lead to
depression. An activating event (A) occurs, for example, you pass a friend in the corridor at school
and they ignore you, when you say ‘hello’. Your belief (B) is your interpretation, which could either
be rational or irrational. According to Ellis, an irrational belief (e.g. ‘my friend must hate me’) can
lead to unhealthy emotional consequences (C), including depression.
One strength of the cognitive explanation for depression is its application to therapy. Cognitive
explanations have been used to develop effective treatments for depression, including Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), which was developed
from Ellis’s ABC model. These therapies attempt to identify and challenge negative, irrational
thoughts and have been successfully used to treat people with depression, providing further support
to the cognitive explanation of depression.
However, one weakness of the cognitive approach is that it does not explain the origins of irrational
thoughts. Since most of the research in this area is correlational psychologists are therefore unable
to determine if negative, irrational thoughts cause depression, or whether a person’s depression
leads to a negative mindset. Consequently, it is possible that other factors, for example, genes and
neurotransmitters, are the cause of depression and the negative, irrational thoughts are the
symptom of depression.
In addition, there are alternative explanations which suggest that depression is a biological
condition, caused by genes and neurotransmitters. Research focused on the role of serotonin has
found lower levels in patients with depression. In addition, drug therapies, including SSRIs (Selective
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibiters), which increase the level of serotonin, are found to be effective in the
treatment of depression, which provide further support for the role of neurotransmitters, in the
development of depression. This therefore casts doubt on the cognitive explanation as a sole cause
of the disorder.
There is research evidence which supports the cognitive explanation of depression. Boury et al.
(2001) found that patients with depression were more likely to misinterpret information negatively
(cognitive bias) and feel hopeless about their future (cognitive triad). Further to this, Bates et al.
(1999) gave depressed patients negative automatic thought statements to read and found that their
symptoms became worse. These findings support different components of Beck’s theory and the
idea that negative thinking is involved in depression.
