Problem 1 – Depression 1
Vignette 1: What is depression?
Depression is characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings
of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, tiredness, and poor
concentration.
Long-lasting or recurrent
,Impairs social functions and coping with daily life.
Life events play a role.
can lead to suicide. (1.5% of the deaths worldwide), second leading cause of
death among 15–29-year-olds, 78% happen in low-income countries.
depression is a common disorder.
the rates of depression surge during middle to late adolescence
depression is heterogenous with multiple causes.
Sub-categories:
- Major depressive disorder/depressive episode: can be mild, moderate,
or severe. Depressed mood, loss of interest, decreased energy.
- Dysthymia: persistent or chronic form of mild depression. Less intense
but lasts longer.
More common in females (5.1%) than males (3.6%), total estimation
(18.4%)
Prevalence rates vary by age, peaking in older adulthood (above 7.5%
among females aged 55-74 years, and above 5.5% among males).
Depression also occurs in children and adolescents below the age of 15
years, but at a lower level than older age groups.
Globally, depressive disorders are ranked as the single largest
contributor to non-fatal health loss (7.5% of all YLD years lived with
disability)
Vignette 2: Cognitive models
HOPELESSNESS THEORY (ABRAMSON)
Hopelessness is the prominent cause of depression
HD (hopelessness depression) symptoms include sadness, retardedness,
suicidality, low energy, apathy, psychomotor retardation, sleep
disturbance, poor concentration.
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,Eg. Student fails a test, gets depressed IF she believes her failure was due
to her low intelligence, will prevent her from getting into a school,
means that she’s worthless.
Individuals with general negative emotions are more likely to get depressed.
Cognitive vulnerability (neg cognitive styles) -stress component (negative life
events)
BECK’S THEORY
Scientifically testable.
The meaning or interpretation of experience influences how they will
experience the depression, which is why cbt is very helpful
Individual differences in experiences affect whether particular negative
events will activate the cognitive vulnerability.
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, Hopelessness vs. Beck
Similarities:
- emphasize on the role of cognition in the origins and maintenance of
depression
- cog vulnerability hypothesis neg cog patterns increase vulnerability
to depression when they experience life events
- neg inferences influence if neg life events lead to depression
differences:
- Hopelessness depressive and nondepressive cog differ in content
but not in process.
Beck depressive and nondepressive cog differs both in content and
in process.
- Beck suggested that depressed people ignore positive situational
information.
- Beck says that depressive cog is distorted whereas hopelessness
theory is silent on the distortion issue.
Psychotherapy - Cuijpers
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