Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Cognitive Explanation
To Abnormality
- 1) Assumptions
- Psychological disorders are caused by
faulty or irrational thoughts or perceptions.
- A person can overcome their disorder by replacing
their ‘faulty’ thoughts with more realistic ones.
- Therapists are useful in helping patients
to replace their faulty thoughts.
- 2) Explanation
- Faulty thoughts or perceptions are the basis
of psychological disorder. The cognitive
psychologist would explain depression in
terms of an overly pessimistic outlook on life.
- Becks (1967)
- Describes the ‘cognitive triad’ in which
a depressed patient has a negative view
of themselves, the world and the future.
- Ellis ABC Model
- A
- Activating
agent (for
example a
spider)
- B
- Belief: (can be
rational) Spider is
harmless (or irrational)
spider is a threat
- C
- Consequence (which
can be healthy)
ignore spider (or
unhealthy) anxiety
- Successes
- Most successful in explaining and treating
anxiety disorders such as phobias and
stress due to irrational thinking and in
explaining and treating depression
because of the negative thinking.
- Anxiety
- Newmark et al
(1973)
- Found that patients suffering clinical
anxiety were far more likely to
suffer from negative self image.
- The triad, biases
and schemas
- Evaluation
- Lewinsohn et al
(2003)
- Followed a group of teenagers who had
developed a negative pattern of thinking. A
year later they were far more likely than a
control group to have developed major
depression. This would seem to suggest that
the negative thinking is causing the
depression as the cognitive model suggests.
- Genetic factors are not considered even though
we know there appears to be a genetic
component to most psychological disorders most
prominent with bipolar (or manic) depression.