Beck's Model of MDD (DP IB Psychology): Revision Note

Beck’s model of MDD

• The cognitive approach explains behaviour through mental processes such as thinking, decision-making, memory, and perception

• In relation to MDD, the approach assumes depression results from faulty or irrational thought processes, where depressed individuals rely too heavily on cognitive biases

The cognitive triad

• Beck (1963) developed an explanation of MDD known as the cognitive triad, which was based on depressed patients he had worked with

• The cognitive triad is divided into three patterns of negative thinking: 

  • Negative view about the self, e.g., 'I'm worthless'

  • Negative view about the world, e.g., 'Nobody cares about me'

  • Negative views about the future, e.g., 'Things will never get better'

Features of depressed thinking

• Beck suggested that the irrational thought patterns below may stem from adverse childhood experiences

  • Personalisation: irrationally blaming the world or events on oneself (e.g., 'Everyone hates me – even the bus hates me because it didn’t stop')

  • Negative automatic thoughts: always seeking out the negative in situations (e.g., 'A promotion just means more stress')

  • Catastrophising: expecting the worst possible outcome (e.g., 'A low mark in this essay means I’ll fail the IB and end up broke')

  • Overgeneralisations: applying one negative event to all situations (e.g., 'What a bad date – I’ll never find anyone')

Diathesis–stress model

• Beck proposed a diathesis-stress component of his theory which states that some people are naturally predisposed to developing MDD

• Environmental stressors (e.g., job loss) may trigger depression in vulnerable individuals, while others may not be affected in the same way

• This theory claims that MDD can develop from a

  combination of a genetic predisposition and environmental stress

• This explains why some members of a family develop MDD while others do not, despite being genetically close

  • E.g., James and Jack both fail their driving test

    • James is unaffected by this outcome and says he'll take the test again soon

    • Jack feels devastated by this outcome and falls into a deep depression

Evaluation of Beck’s model of MDD

Strengths

• There is good research evidence to support Beck’s theory

  • E.g., Bothwell & Scott (1997) found that cognitive biases were linked to symptoms of depression

• The theory has practical applications to treating depression

  • E.g., The model underpins CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), which helps patients identify, challenge, and replace irrational thoughts, leading to reduced symptoms of depression

Limitations

• Beck's theory has limited explanatory power

  • It explains how irrational thinking works but not why it develops in the first place (e.g., childhood experiences, biology)

• Beck’s theory is culturally biased, as the model does not fully apply to collectivist cultures

  • It focuses on individual thinking patterns and one-to-one therapy, which may not reflect cultural differences in how depression is experienced or treated

Link to Concepts

Causality

• Beck claimed that negative, irrational thoughts lead to depression, which could lead to some interesting discussion on the nature of causality

  • E.g., is it possible to think yourself depressed or does being depressed cause an increase in negative thoughts?

Change

• Beck’s theory does not really account for the unpredictable nature of depression

  • The depressed person is not always depressed in the same way across time, i.e., there is a lack of stability to their MDD as it does not always present in the same way

  • The model should be able to acknowledge the shifting nature of depression and that MDD is not necessarily a stable, lifelong condition