Cognitive Approach To Depression Essay

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the symptoms of depression; show that the drug alleviates the symptoms of depression. Versiani et al (1999), in a study discovered that with the NRI drugs compared to placebo drugs, that they were effective and carried a lower risk of relapse than the placebo. “(22% relapse on NRI’s, 56% with Placebo”) ** In the case of the catecholamine hypothesis, it focuses on one part of the brain and body, collating evidence and results into making it a plausible key to the main cause of depression. Research suggests that yes it is a contributing factor, however like with all studies there is also vast evidence debating its influence towards depression. Schatcberg (2000) **book, “ proposed that the use of anti-depressants that increase the level of noradrenaline …show more content…

“Thinking” is a word that sums cognitive up, and a psychologists who utilized this approach on mental health, relate how a person processes information, focusing on their memory, thinking processes, problem solving, perception and language. The cognitive approach can be likened to a computer, such as the information entering a human is the “input”, and the information coming out post treatment leads to the response or (output) In relation to Depression, there are many theories based on the cognitive approach, the most profound is that of Aaron Beck in …show more content…

His theory has three main characteristics, firstly the Cognitive Triad. The triad is made up of thoughts of the self, thoughts of the present world and thoughts of the future. According to Beck as a result of these cognitive processes, they form the understanding of people’s views on the world and there behavioral reactions to them. To illustrate the cognitive Triad, a person who is depressed, will look at themselves, look at where they are now and their future in a negative manner, usually blaming themselves for certain events, such as “ things will not improve, I am a bad person”. Another aspect of Becks model is the “faulty thinking strategies”, or “errors in logic”. This is where a person with depression will often focus in on negative points of a situation, with lack of insight, wrong information, and sometimes overthink and jump to conclusions; this is called “arbitrary inference”. People with depression, in Becks’s opinion also have “magnification and minimization” characteristics, where people with depression will blow a situation out of proportion or visa versa when minimizing a situation they under emphasize frequent