12 mark essay

1. Describe and evaluate the cognitive approach to explaining depression (12 marks)
The cognitive approach focuses on how thinking influences our behaviour, and in particular,
how irrational thinking leads to a mental disorder. Ellis proposed the ABC model in which A
refers to the activating event, B refers to the belief, and C refers to the consequence. For
example, a bad result in an exam (activating event) can result in someone thinking that either
they should have revised more (rational belief) or that they are stupid (irrational belief), and
this can lead to either constructive (healthy) or depressive (unhealthy) emotions as a
consequence. This theory also focuses on the role that musturbatory thinking can play. Ellis
believed that the source of irrational beliefs lie in musturbatory thinking, and suggests that
such ‘musts’ need to be challenged in order for mental healthiness to prevail.
In comparison, Beck specifically focused on depression and created the negative triad. This
comprises three components: negative view of the self, negative view of the world, and
negative view of the future. These components interact with each other and interfere with
people’s normal cognitive thinking making them prone to negative thoughts. Negative
schemas also influence this theory as they make people susceptible to logical errors in their
thinking.
According to Bates et al. (1999) depressed patients who were given negative automatic-
thought statements became more and more depressed thus supporting the view that negative
thinking leads to depression. Hamman and Krantz (1976) found that depressed patients made
more errors in logic when asked to interpret written material than non-depressed patients and
so this supports the idea that depression is linked to irrational thinking. However, despite
research suggesting that there is a link it does not necessarily prove that negative thoughts
cause depression.
This approach also suggests that the client is responsible for their disorder and so fails to take
into account situational factors. This can make the client feel worse as they feel that they are
to blame. As well as this, not all irrational beliefs are irrational, and research by Alloy and
Abrahmson suggests that depressed people can give more accurate estimates of the likelihood
of a disaster which is known as the ‘sadder but wiser’ effect.