Mental Health - 2 case studies

Authors Avatar by catrinat123 (student)

Catherine

“Anna visited the clinic to seek advice and see what could help her with her depression. She explained that the simplest of things seemed difficult to do and she was always blaming things around her to why she is unable to carry out tasks. Anna spends most her free time preoccupying herself with negative thoughts which lead to her constantly crying. She is worried as she is seeing the effect it is having on her relationships with people especially her partner.”

Behaviourism was brought about a long time ago and then followed cognitive. Behavioural psychologists focus on how the individual behaves whereas cognitive psychologists focus on how the individual thinks. It was after a period of time that both perspectives realised that it wasn’t just one or the other and that it joining the perspectives together would make treatment for an individual more effective.

Our cognitive psychologists assume that information that is received from our senses is processed by the brain and the processing directs how we behave.  It refers to the ability of our brains and describes the brain as a computer that processes information.  They are widely used by individuals with a wide variety of emotional problems that lead to depression. The psychologists begin by examining how distorted and irrational negative thoughts influence the individual’s feelings which then lead to changes in their behaviour.

The treatment that cognitive psychologists could offer Anna is cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).  This is very much a new therapy that has been introduced but has become one of the preferred therapies used today. The goal of cognitive therapy is to challenge the negative thoughts of the individual and encourage them to develop a more positive outlook on the way they view the world and the people around them.  The psychologists often do this by recording every type of negative thought and the feelings that follow with it, almost like a diary. It’s not always easy at first because the patterns can be so unconscious that it can be difficult to notice them but overtime it gets easier to spot out.

Join now!

Beck introduced ‘the cognitive triad’ which is 3 beliefs which cause Depression and affect each other. They are unrealistic negative views about the self, the future and the world. According to beck, this negative outlook would have derived from the individual’s childhood perhaps due to bereavement, overcritical parents or even teachers. Essentially, he believes that a depressed person has developed a negative set of schemas on which their expectations about life are based on. For example, in Anna’s case, she may have developed a self-blame schema which makes her feel responsible for all the things in her life that go ...

This is a preview of the whole essay