Cognitive Perspective & Depression

Cognitive perspectives in psychology focus on the mental processes that play a role in learning and behaviors, and researchers are continually exploring the nature of these processes. Cognitive perspectives in psychotherapy developed, in part, from a response to scientific beliefs that behavior resulted simply from consequences. A famous example of this is Pavlov's experiment with dogs. A bell was struck every time dogs in an experimental group were fed. Soon, the dogs began to salivate once they heard the bell, whether or not the food was there. Cognitive psychologists believe there is more to learning and behavior than simple action-consequence relationships, and this perspective is often used to treat depression patients in psychotherapy sessions.

Predecessors

• Predecessors to the modern cognitive perspective can be traced back to England in the 1600s. British philosophers John Locke and David Hume believed that a person's life experiences were critical in the mental associations that defined individual make-up and influenced individual behaviors. Psychologists that employ the modern cognitive perspective in their practices similarly believe that information processing, mental representations, predictions and expectations--based on past experiences--play major roles in how an individual sees herself and her life and how she reacts to situations.

Learned Helplessness and Depression

• Seligman and colleagues brought the theory of "learned helplessness" in the cognitive perspective to the forefront, which has played a role in the analysis and treatment of depression.

  Through shock experiments on dogs in the 1960s, Seligman came to the conclusion that a sense of helplessness can be learned or conditioned. When dogs were given the opportunity to escape from shocks near the beginning of an experiment, they did later on when presented with the opportunity. Inversely, when the animals were not given the opportunity to escape, they later did not attempt to do so even when presented with the chance.

  Seligman believed people, too, could suffer from learned helplessness when they exerted little effort to counter negative situations, most likely because of previous and numerous failed attempts to do so. This behavior is common with depressive disorders.

Albert Ellis and Emotive Therapy

• Albert Ellis developed a cognitive perspective method of therapy called rational emotive therapy in the 1970s, which has been used to treat depression patients. A combination of cognitive and behavioral methods, this therapy aimed to treat individuals by changing the inappropriate and self-destructive beliefs Ellis believed were the cause of many psychological disorders, and are common in people suffering from depression.

  Ellis followed the ABC model--activating event, belief and consequence--to alter negative perceptions of consequences, and therefore negative emotions. The ABC model outlined the therapeutic model of activating a negatively associated event and then changing negative and self-destructive beliefs around the event to alter associated negative behaviors. With the absence of negative emotions, behaviors could then change.

Aaron Beck and Cognitive Therapy

• Aaron Beck developed a similar cognitive therapy method in the 1970s. Beck believed anxiety-promoting thinking patterns caused anxiety and depressive disorders and tried to lead patients to understand their own destructive thinking patterns through a Socratic method of questioning. The Socratic method never supplies a direct answer to the questioner, but allows that person to discover the answer on her own. Beck believed that once depression patients identified the fact they were creating negative and destructive thought patterns, they could then be shown how to alter those patterns, see themselves more accurately and therefore alter their behaviors.

Cognitive Therapy and Medications

• Cognitive therapy and medications can be used in combination to treat depression patients. Medication is only necessary in severe cases, but in mild and moderate situations, medications may also be options. Medications used to treat depression in conjunction with cognitive therapies include tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) and bupropion. To be effective, these medications must be taken at least four to six months.