Psychological Interventions & Therapies of Depression (AQA GCSE Psychology): Revision Note

The use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to treat depression

• Psychological treatments tend to take a cognitive approach i.e. working on the patient’s irrational thinking and cognitive distortions

• Psychological treatments do not use drugs or any invasive methods to treat disorders

• Psychological treatments revolve around talking therapy and targeted tasks/exercises that the patient undergoes with a therapist to guide them or on their own as ‘homework’

• Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is the most commonly used psychological treatment for depression

• CBT works on cognitions

  • e.g, irrational and catastrophising thoughts (all-or-nothing thinking, such as "everything's not going right now and it will always be like this")

• CBT includes the following techniques (not all are used with every patient):

  • Disputing: the therapist challenges the client's irrational thoughts, e.g. "do you always do badly at school work? Where's your proof your best friend doesn't like you any more?"

  • Thought diary: the client records unpleasant emotions, the automatic negative thoughts linked to them (rated 1–100% belief), and a rational response to those thoughts (also rated)

  • Behavioural activation: the client plans one pleasant activity each day, e.g. making a meal or seeing a film, to build a sense of accomplishment and improve mood

• The CBT therapist aims to get their client to the point where they can be independent and use the strategies practised in treatment to help themselves

CBT changes thoughts, feelings and behaviours holistically

Evaluation of psychological interventions & therapies

Strengths

• CBT has lasting effectiveness: it equips the client with tools (challenging irrational thoughts, thinking more rationally) they can reuse in future episodes of depression

  • Therefore it offers a long-term solution rather than just fixing the problem now

• CBT is holistic: it treats the whole person and the "bigger picture" of what someone feels and thinks, rather than focusing on constituent parts of depression such as neurotransmitters

  • It targets the core symptoms of depression (feeling sad, negative thoughts), it may ultimately be more effective than the biological, reductionist approach

Weaknesses

• CBT is not for everyone: successful treatment requires a considerable amount of time (months of weekly sessions plus homework) and effort/willingness to change, unlike medication (which is passive)

  • This means many people drop out of CBT or fail to engage enough to benefit