Two Explanations of Depression

Describe and evaluate devil mental accountings of falling off. (25 marks) in that respect harbor been somewhat(prenominal)(prenominal) psychoanalytical theories of belief in that location is no objective view of nonion. However, centre to both these distinguishable theories is the idea that unconscious forces and experiences during proterozoic childishness contribute to the training of first gear in adult life. The first scheme that pull up stakes be looked at is, Sigmund role players guess, based on his 1917 set close Mourning and Melancholia. Here, art related imprint back to the Oral stage of winment during childhood.The Oral stage, according to Fraud, this is the first of several psychosexual stages through which human infants develop towards maturity. It is characterised by dependency on their c aregiver. It is practicable to release fixated (stuck) at any wizard of these stages and this has consequences for after development. Fixation canful giv e as the yield of either over-or under-gratification. This truly hooked record makes them particularly time-worn to drop-off in their adult life. They swing energy, m wholenessy and more than than(prenominal) looking for sack out and attention and approval of others, this could hunt to angriness if their needs arent met.However, this animosity is tell inwardly, at themselves instead of at others. An illustration of this is with the firing of a loved one, their anger is directed inwardly at the passing of their loved one, regressing back to the Oral stage. Fraud overly distinguished amidst true(a) wrong, in the case of the injury of a loved one and symbolic loss, loss of a job. However, both do lead to first, as the individual re-experiences a childhood episode when they experienced loss of soreness from a caregiver. There has also been a link between Low self-conceit and printing.Bibrings psychodynamic system (1965) stated that let out self-esteem brought somewhat by a harsh and critical upbringing could result in depression. This perfectionist parenting style can engender a wide inconsistency between the childs true nature and its ideal nature, the individual fails to live up to his/her unrealistic ego-ideal. This aches the theory that fixation on a childhood stage or experience can lead to depression later in life. According to Fraud, in order to avoid loss spell into depression, the individual needs to engage in a period of mourning, work, during which s/he recalls memories of the incapacitated one.This allows the individual to sepa arrange him/herself from the anomic person, and so reduces the inner-directed anger. However, individuals very dependent on others for their sense of self-esteem whitethorn be unable to do this, and so persist in extremely depressed. There is some license for the idea that a set of dependant personality traits characterise bulk with depression. However, these traits bulge to fluctuate with the level of depression so they might be an effect of the deflect earlier than a causal factor. There is also support for the idea that the loss of a parent to death or divorce can be link up to later depression (Bifulco et al. 1987). Further question has shown that depressed community tend to be more aggressive than a project mathematical mathematical group of people who dont suffer from depression. The strengths of the psychodynamic salute to depression are that, firstly, there is further empirical support provided by Waller et al (2000). Men who had lost their fathers during childhood scored higher on a depression scale than those fathers who had non died. Furthermore, Bifulco (1992) erect testify that children whose mothers died in childhood were more likely to experience depression later in life.This suggests that there is wider academic credibility for the idea of depression being prepared by mental factors. On the other hand, one failing of Frauds recipe is t hat there is contradictory evidence by Cooper et al (1992). Loss credibly explains only a relatively junior-grade percentage of cases of depression only about 10% of those who experience advance(prenominal) loss later become depressed. This produces refuting evidence for depression being caused by psychodynamic explanations. Another weakness of Frauds theory is that there are methodological problems.The associated therapy (psychoanalysis) has not proved very effective with parcel outing depression (Comer, 2002). This may be because of the difficulty depressed patients having in communicating during psychoanalysis this proves that psychoanalysis is not invariably affective. Finally, Frauds theory is mentally deterministic. The reason for this is because Fraud suggests that depression occurs referable to a dominant superego. However, respectable because an individuals superego is dominant, doesnt pixilated that they will develop depression. This suggests that Freuds theory d oes not take into consideration freewill.Another psychological explanation of depression is the cognitive approach. Beck (1967) was stricken by the controvert thought process shown by depressed clients and developed his own explanation. Here, he suggested that depressed is the depression is the result of contradict thinking and catastrophising, which he called cognitive errors, Beck (1991) believes that depression is a disorder of thought, rather than of mood, he maintained that there are lead components to depression, which he called the cognitive triad. This consisted of negative and disheartened thoughts about themselves, the world and their future.In addition to the cognitive triad, Beck believed that depression prone individuals develop negative self- system. They possess a set of beliefs and expectations about themselves that are essentially negative and pessimistic. He identified this as being routed to an early traumatic childhood event. E. g. Death of a parent or sibli ng, parental rejection, chiding, overprotection or neglect. It could also be due to bullying. People with negative self schemas become prone to qualification logical errors in their thinking and they tend to focus selectively on certain aspects of a fact while ignoring equal relevant cultivation.Beck referred to these errors as cognitive distortations, including drawing conclusions under the buttocks of sufficient or irrelevant information. E. g. printing worthless because the weather disturbed your plans to go to a concert. He called this arbitrary interference. Others include selective abstraction. This is focusing on a single aspect of a stake and ignoring others E. g. you feel responsible for your team losing a match, even though you are just one player on the field. Thirdly, is overgeneralisation.This is making a sweeping conclusion on the basis of single event. Others include blowup and minimisation, as strong as personalisation. Beck (1983) has special his theory over the years and he now believes there are devil types of negative schema that characterise depression 1. Sociotropy-This relates to interpersonal relationships, and individuals with this type of negative schema see themselves as failing at relationships. Their core belief could be something like, If I am not liked by everyone, I am worthless 2.Autonomy-This relates to personal achievement, and individuals with this type of negative schema perceive themselves as failing to achieve work- or study-related goals. Their core belief could be something like, If I am not successful and in control, I am worthless. cognitive theories of depression have been extremely prestigious and have stimulated huge amounts of query that have contributed to our understanding of the disorder and how to treat it. They have given rise to a range of therapies and, on the whole, these seem to have been very helpful for people with depression. Becks later idea that ndividual personality differences can predict the type of event that triggers depression could be used to explain some of the different symptoms sub-type. However, it is difficult to determine the succeeding(prenominal) extent to which distorted cognitive patterns cause depression. Numerous studies have shown that depressed people do indeed show more negative thinking than the control groups. However, as yet there is no convert evidence that such thinking precedes a depressive episode. It seems likely that negative thinking is a consequence of depression and that it might well serve to maintain the disorder rather than explain its origins.One strength of the cognitive approach is that it has practical applications provided by Butler and Beck (2000). They reviewed 14 meta-analyses investigating the effectiveness of Becks cognitive therapy and concluded that about 80% of adults benefited from the therapy. It was also found that the therapy was more successful than medicine therapy and had a lower relapse rate supporting the proposition that depression has a cognitive basis. This suggested that knowledge of the cognitive explanation can improve the quality of peoples lives.A major criticism of the cognitive explanation is that there is contradictory evidence from Lewinsohn (1981). He studied a group of participants before any of them became depressed, and found that those who later become depressed were no more likely to have negative thoughts than those who did not develop depression. This suggests that hopeless and negative thinking may be the result of depression rather than the cause of it. Another criticism is that it is reductionist. It doesnt regard other factors as responsible for depression, but focuses on the psychological approach to depression.A final weakness is that the psychological explanation of depression is psychologically deterministic. This is because the information suggests that individuals with no social network will become depressed. In reality, this is not always true. If the individual did want a group of friends, then they could get them. This suggests that this explanation does not for freewill. In conclusion, we have seen two different psychological explanations, one is Frauds psychodynamic approach, and the other is the cognitive approach. Both target depression as underlying from a psychological problem.