Depression
A type of mood disorder causing periods of feeling sad and lacking motivation to do everyday activities.
Unipolar depression
What is CBT?
Type of therapy used to change thought processes to influence a patient's behaviour.
Chemicals found within the nervous system that pass messages from one neuron to another across a synapse.
Neurotransmitters
What is the name of twins who are developed from two different eggs fertilised during the same pregnancy.
Dizygotic
What is the cognitive theory explanation for depression?
An explanation that focuses on how thought processes influence behaviour
Name two symptoms of unipolar depression
• lowering of mood – feeling very sad or upset
• lack of energy even after resting for a long time
• lack of motivation to do things
What is the name of the study that found depressed patients treated with CBT improved more than those waiting for treatment or not receive any treatment?
Beltman et al (2010)
This blocks the reuptake of serotonin when it is released from a neuron. This means that serotonin is available for longer.
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
Peter McGuffin et al (1996)
What is Beck's negative triad?
A set of three thought patterns where people feel bad about themselves, the future and the world in general.
Approximately 1 in 15 people will suffer from an episode of serious depression every year
Features of unipolar depression
Explain one stage of CBT for depression?
- first stage, patient to discuss all their symptoms with therapist and explain how they feel and what makes them feel this way
- second stage, challenging the irrational ways of thinking, replace them with more rational and positive ways of thinking
- final stage, homework - change way of thinking about situation and writing it down in diary
What is Noradrenaline?
A type of neurotransmitter that is involved in mood and is released during times of stress
What is the Diathesis-stress model?
An explanation for depression that claims people can have a gene that makes them more likely to develop depression, but only if they face a stressful situation that triggers depressive thoughts.
Ellis's ABC model:
What does A stand for?
Activating event
Which level of episode includes having 4 symptoms of unipolar depression displayed (mild, moderate, severe?)
Mild
Identify one weakness of CBT for depression?
- relies on patients wanting to change their behaviour and being able to recognise when their thoughts are irrational.
- ethical issues - therapist making patient think their own thought processes are a problem - change way they interact with others - abuse position of power therapist
What type of antidepressant prevents an enzyme from doing its job properly?
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs)
What is difference between deterministic and free will?
Deterministic - our actions come from what we are born with and what we experience
Free will - explanations of behaviour that claims we have the ability to choose exactly what type of behaviour we want to show.
Ellis’s theory of depression:
Good mental health = rational thinking
Bad mental health = _____
Irrational thinking
What % of patients with severe depression commit suicide?
10-15%
Identify one strength of CBT for depression?
- evidence Beltman et al (2010) found depressed patients treated with CBT improved more than those waiting for treatment or not receiving any treatment
- longer-lasting treatment than only using antidepressants - patients learn how to control their symptoms - antidepressants can stop working after a period of time
Identify two weaknesses of drug therapy for depression.
Side effects
Treats the symptoms and not the cause
Identify one strength of genetic explanation of depression.
- take away stigma (society more accepting)
- lots of research evidence (Caspi et al)
Identify one weakness of the cognitive theory explanation of depression.
- difficult to tell whether irrational thoughts are a cause of depression or a symptom.
- activating events may not be so easily explained by thought processes.