Depression (AQA GCSE Psychology): Exam Questions

Describe Wiles’ study of the effectiveness of CBT.

Evaluate Wiles’ study of the effectiveness of CBT.

Suggest two changes in behaviour often seen in people who are diagnosed with unipolar depression.

Read the item and then answer the questions that follow.

Researchers wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to treat unipolar depression. They put up posters in a Doctors' surgery asking for volunteers who had been diagnosed with depression to complete a questionnaire. The researchers chose 10 people who had only received medication for depression, and 10 people who had received both CBT and medication.

The participants were asked to rate the effectiveness of their treatment on a scale of 0-10 where 0 is not at all effective and 10 is very effective. The results are shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Ratings of effectiveness for types of treatment for depression

What do the results of this study suggest about the effectiveness of using both CBT and medication to treat unipolar depression? Explain your answer.

Read the following conversation.

Describe and evaluate cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) as an intervention or therapy for depression.

Refer to the conversation in your answer.

Which two of the following are not symptoms of unipolar depression according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)?

Complete the following sentence.

When the ICD is being used to diagnose unipolar depression, both the        of symptoms and the severity of symptoms need to be considered.

Describe the role of neurotransmitters in synaptic transmission.

Discuss whether or not neurotransmitters can be considered to be involved in causing depression.

Research suggests that nurture plays a role in people experiencing depression.

Which of the following is not a way that nurture can influence depression?

Briefly evaluate the theory that nurture influences depression.

Read the following conversation.

According to the International Classification of Diseases, which three symptoms of unipolar depression was Noah experiencing?

Describe one difference between unipolar depression and bipolar depression.

Researchers used an online questionnaire to investigate a possible link between the amount of time spent on social media and depression.

Only people who regularly spend at least nine hours a day on social media were asked to complete the questionnaire. Fifty questionnaires were completed and returned.

One of the questions asked participants if they thought that their sleep patterns were affected by spending time on social media. Table 3 shows the results.

Table 3: Responses of participants to the question: ‘Do you think your sleep patterns are affected by the amount of time you spend on social media sites?’

Calculate the percentage of participants who said their sleep patterns were affected.

Show your workings.

‘Changes in sleep patterns’ is listed in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as a symptom of unipolar depression.

Identify two other symptoms of unipolar depression listed in the ICD.

The researchers used opportunity sampling to select the participants who answered the questionnaire.

Explain one weakness of using opportunity sampling in psychological research.

Briefly evaluate the use of antidepressant medications as an intervention for depression.

Identify one intervention or therapy for depression.

Evaluate the intervention or therapy for depression that you have identified in your answer to Question 12a.