Depression is nourished by a lifetime of ungrieved and unforgiven hurts Penelope Sweep

“For me being depressed means you can spend all day in bed, and still not get a good night’s rest.”  Anonymous

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Cognitive Theory of Depression



Cognitive behavioral theorists suggest that depression results from maladaptive, faulty, or irrational cognitions taking the form of distorted thoughts and judgments. Depressive cognitions can be learned socially as is the case when children in a dysfunctional family watch their parents fail to successfully cope with stressful experiences or traumatic events. Or, depressive cognitions can result from a lack of experiences that would facilitate the development of adaptive coping skills.

According to cognitive behavioral theory, depressed people think differently than non-depressed people, and it is this difference in thinking that causes them to become depressed. For example, depressed people tend to view themselves, their environment, and the future in a negative, pessimistic light. As a result, depressed people tend to misinterpret facts in negative ways and blame themselves for any misfortune that occurs. This negative thinking and judgment style functions as a negative bias; it makes it easy for depressed people to see situations as being much worse than they really are, and increases the risk that such people will develop depressive symptoms in response to stressful situations


(http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=13006&cn=5)





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