Both Beck’s Negative Triad and Ellis’ ABC Model take the cognitive approach when treating depression.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Cognitive - the way we think, irrational thoughts
- Behavioural - coping strategies developed to handle irrational thoughts
- Therapy/treatment - treating the irrational thoughts
Both Beck and Ellis developed a form of CBT on their theories.
CBT is the most commonly used treatment for depression and a range of other mental health problems.
It uses an assessment between the patient and therapist to clarify issues and then treatment.
The therapist must identify negative/irrational thoughts and then work to change the thoughts and put more effective behaviours in place.
Beck’s Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Applies Beck’s explanation of depression to treating depressed patients
- Identifies automatic negative thoughts about the world, self and future (negative triad) and then challenges the thoughts
- By challenging these thoughts, the patient can gradually challenge their negative schema
- Utilises homework to apply behavioural action and unconditional positive rewards
Homework
- Challenges irrational beliefs
- Vital in testing irrational beliefs against reality and putting new rational beliefs into practice
Behavioural Activation
- Characteristic of depressed people: participate much less in previously enjoyed activities
- Specific focus on encouraging depressed clients to become more active and engage in pleasurable activities
- Based on the idea that active leads to rewards, an antidote to depression
Unconditional Positive Regard
- An important factor in successful therapy is convincing the client they are of value as a human being
- If a therapist provides respect and appreciation regardless of what the client has done, it will lead to a change in client belief and attitude
Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT)
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Rational
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Emotive
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Behavioural
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Therapy
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Ellis claimed that psychological problems were due to irrational thinking
- Individuals develop self-defeating habits due to faulty beliefs of themselves and/or the world
REBT extends the ABC model to the ABCDEF model:
- Disputing Irrational Thoughts - argument, leads to the patient realising their irrational thoughts
- Effect of Disputing - positive effects of disputing irrational thoughts
- Feelings - new feelings due to tackling irrational thoughts
Challenging Irrational Thoughts
- Logical disputing - self-defeating beliefs that do not follow logically from informational available
- Empirical disputing - self-defeating beliefs that may not be consistent with reality
- Pragmatic disputing - emphasises the lack of usefulness of self-defeating beliefs