Cognitive Theory And Therapy For Depression

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) addresses dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviors, and cognitive processes. This is an effective treatment for patients who are dealing with anxiety and depression. CBT refers to a group of psychotherapies that incorporate techniques from cognitive therapy and behavior therapy. Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck are the two psychologists who came up with therapies. Beck developed the cognitive therapy (CT) that focuses on changing the client’s unrealistic maladaptive beliefs and thoughts in order to change the individual’s behavior and emotional state. To help CT is directive collaboration by help teach the client correct their distorted thinking and perception of self,

The study of Psychopathology brought to attention that these cognitive disorders start slowly and progress until they affect one’s life to

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a theory that deals with depression and ways to relieve the depression. The theory is based on the assumption that events happen and affect the behavior and emotions of an individual. When a positive event happens, there are three things that get to the depressed individual. First, the depressed child or adult think about the event. The depressed person selectively chose the negative aspect of the event and sees themselves as failure. Second, the emotions of the child or individual go down. Third, what the person does is withdrawal, de-activation,

Cognitive therapy, now called cognitive behavioral therapy was developed by Aaron Beck. Beck believed that dysfunctional thought processes and beliefs are responsible for an individual’s behaviors and feelings. He also believed that individuals’ have the ability identify these distorted thoughts and change them to more realistic thinking in order to relieve their psychological discomfort. This type of therapy is designed to be a short-term, straight-forward and structured approach to counseling in which counselors and clients work together. I strongly identify with cognitive behavioral therapy because I believe all behaviors are a result of incorrect thoughts and beliefs. Irrational and negative thinking can influence an individual’s ability to cope and deal with any difficulties they may be experiencing. I also like cognitive behavioral therapy because it briefly includes a client’s historical background in its approach to counseling. I feel that counselors should include a client’s past experiences when trying to understand at what point the client’s incorrect assumptions developed. I believe that everybody in this world always has a choice on how they handle and behave in their given situation and circumstances. In cognitive behavioral therapy, once the counselor and client have identified the irrational thoughts and evaluated whether there is any evidence to its validity, the client has the ability to choose whether or not they desire to change their distorted ways of

One of the most common psychiatric disorders is known as clinical depression and affects anywhere between 3% and 13% of the population with some form of depressive symptoms affecting as much as 20% of the adult population at some point in their lives (Amenson & Lewinson, 1981; Kessler et al., 1994; Oliver & Simmons, 1985, as cited in Antonuccio, Danton, & DeNelsky, p. 574). The concept of ‘harmful dysfunction’ advanced by Horwitz and Wakefield (2007) describes two key components of clinical depression: a dysfunctional mechanism and the dysfunction being harmful to the individual (as cited in, Parker & Paterson, p.405). This paper explores the following questions: what does research indicate about clinical depression and what are the implications for treatment? Reviews are presented in regards to the emergence of depression and psychotherapy versus medication to treat clinical depression. Considerations are briefly discussed and the research paper will conclude with an interpretation of the critical points.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) grew out of dissatisfaction of certain therapists with traditional psychoanalysis. Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis were both instrumental in the development of this approach to psychotherapy (Van Bilsen, p. 7), though Beck, a psychoanalyst, is primarily credited with its development. Beck did research on depression, in the 1950’s, which was intended to give evidence in support of the theory that retroflected hostility was at the root of depression, but the research failed to confirm his hypothesis. As a result, he expanded his research on depression and came to the realization that depressed subjects held predictably negative thoughts about themselves, the future and the world around

Cognitive-behavioral therapy was developed by Aaron Beck (Hammen 141). It assumes that the patient's faulty thinking is causing the current depression and focuses on changing the depressed patient's thought patterns and perceptions. The therapist helps the patient identify negative or distorted thought patterns and the emotions and behavior that accompany them, and then retrains the depressed individual to recognize the thinking

The biological theory of depression focusing on genetics argues that shared DNA is the cause of depression so the more genes shared with a depressed family member, the more an individual’s likelihood to develop depression. Whereas psychological theories of depression, such as the cognitive negative schema, focus on how individuals perceive

Beck (1976) further explained this phenomenon by categorizing three different kinds of negative cognitive processes; also known as the cognitive triad. This triad consists of; a) a negative view of the world in general, b) a person 's negative view of themselves and c) a negative view of the future. Almost a decade after Beck designed her cognitive triad, Ellis (1987) also developed a cognitive triad where the three depression causing factors were, a) a devout belief in one 's own personal inadequacy, b) the horror of not having what one needs, and c) the awfulness of the way things are. Keeping these triads in view we understand that cognitive behavioural therapy helps the therapist alter the thinking habits of the client and encourage them to adopt behaviours that would help them function better in day to day work and social as well as personal life.

Antidepressant medication is the most popular treatment for depression. Studies have suggested that cognitive therapy of depression might have a significant advantage over medication in preventing relapses or recurrences (Robinson, 2005). Despite the alarming prevalence of depression in society, there is yet no completely adequate explanation as to how or why it occurs (Robinson, 2005). The three major etiological models for understanding depression are cognitive models (based on the work of Beck & Ellis), biological models that link depression to variance in biochemistry (Robinson, 2005), and diathesis-stress models that view depression as the result of a complex interaction of contextual factors and intra-individual factors (Robinson, 2005). There is some evidence to suggest that once treatment-to-remission-from-depression is terminated that pharmacologically treated patients were twice as likely to relapse than patients treated with cognitive therapy (Miller, 1989). Many studies have reported evidence of negative cognitive patterns among depressed individuals. A self-deprecating style, negative attitudes toward the future and negative automatic thoughts frequently are associated with depression (Miller, 1989).

People who suffer from depression may experience learned helplessness, which is a behavioral view. This can be when someone has so much stress that they cannot handle, they stop trying to handle it. When they can no longer handle their stress, they become helpless, which will lead to hopelessness. The cognitive theory is more about the thought process and what one may believe when he or she is suffering from depression. People who are depressed may think that they are worthless if they fail a test, or if they do not make all As for a semester. People who constantly think about negative experiences may develop depression, but also other disorders. Another sign of depression is when someone is always trying to figure out what caused something else to happen. One may say it is their fault the assignment was turned in late and because of that he or she will now fail the class. He or she looks at something happening because of something negative. When someone looks at life in a negative way he or she has a pessimistic view on life; however, having an optimistic view is the opposite. People with the optimistic view may say the professor will give out more than just that assignment and they can make it up.

The philosophy of cognitive behavioral therapy is that “think and feeling are connected people are creative (Halbur & Halbur, 2015, p.47)”. The key aspects of theory are to challenge the irrational beliefs that we hold about ourselves. Aaron Beck the primary founder of cognitive behavior theory assumed that people can control how they feel and what they think. He believed that our inner thoughts and beliefs affected how we are affected on the outside. One of the key concepts is that the client’s dysfunctional thinking can be derived from an erroneous internal process or bias.

From this realization, he created an intervention geared towards altering individuals’ negative self-concepts and challenging their way of thinking. Beck’s cognitive behavioral therapy is based on the cognitive model theory (Heffner, n.d.). The cognitive model holds the premise that our thoughts are responsible for how we behave. So, flawed thinking is at the root of all mental disorders. Beck used cognitive model to understand that a change in the mental process can treat depression (Beck, 2005). Although Beck’s cognitive therapy intervention started off as a treatment for depression; it has been modified and adapted to fit the needs of many different mental and psychical illnesses.

Depression is one of the common and severe major depressive disorder that affects the way of feeling, thinking and behaving. Depression can lead to a range of emotional and physical difficulties which may result in a person’s capability to function at work and home because of the feelings of sadness and loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. However, between 80 percent and 90 percent of people gain some relief from their depression symptoms after treatment. Therefore, depression is among the most treatable mental disorders. The development and maintenance of depression can be explained by the critical cognitive theories from Beck’s cognitive model of depression (1976). Furthermore, one of the most effective methods for treating depression has been created by this model. The central constructs within Beck’s model (1976) are schemas, negative, dysfunctional attitudes, cognitive distortions, the cognitive triad, and

     Psychological theories of depression focus on the way people think and behave. Some theories emphasize the role irrational though processes. It states that depresses people tend to view themselves, their environment, and the future in a negative light because of errors in thinking. These errors include focusing on the negative aspects of any situation misinterpreting facts in negative ways, and blaming themselves for any misfortune. In another view it is said that people with “depressive” personality traits appear to be more vulnerable than others to actual depression. Examples of depressive personality traits include gloominess, pessimism, introversion, self-criticism, deep feelings of inadequacy, and excessive brooding and worrying. People who regularly behave in dependent, hostile, and impulsive ways appear at greater risk for depression. Psychologists also believe that stressful experiences can trigger depression in people who are predisposed to the illness.