Outline and evaluate two or more psychological explanations for depression. 24 marks
Henry Au
Central to all psychodynamic theories is the idea that unconscious forces and experiences in early childhood contribute to the development of depression in later adult life. Freud related the origins back to the first stage of development – the oral stage. He believed that when needs were not met, the individual would become fixated and more reliant on others. This would cause the individual to develop a personality type which was more prone to depression. Also, when needs were not met, an individual would become angry with the anger turned inwards due to the outer expression of anger being unacceptable to the superego. Overall, Freud’s theory stresses the role of early childhood experiences play in creating a personality type more vulnerable to depression. 122
Bibring concluded that depression was due to low self esteem caused by harsh, critical or perfectionist parenting. This supports Freud’s theory of early childhood experiences being important. Furthermore, low self esteem would support Freud’s idea of individuals being increasingly reliant on others as they are both forms of an external locus of control. Also evidence has showed that sets of dependent personality traits characterise depressed individuals. However, these traits seem to fluctuate with the level fo depression indicating it is an effect of the disorder rather than the cause. Freud’s theory is also not well-defined which makes it very difficult for a clear-cut hypothesis to be formulated and tested. In addition, it is very hard to verify or falsify his theory due to the nature of his ideas, for example, the idea of repression, because if an individual cannot remember an event it is said to be repressed in the unconscious mind. This is not measurable and as a result cannot be verified or falsified. Freud also based much of his theory on case studies. Although rich in detail they are unique and personal making them unable to be generalised. 190
Another psychological explanation of depression is Beck’s cognitive theory. It states that depression is due to disorder of thought rather than mood as it is a result of an individual’s thinking in pessimistic terms. Beck also believed that the foundations of depression lay in early negative evens which can lead to negative schemas which in turn lead to negative automatic thoughts in stressful situations. The individual develops cognitive distortions such as selective abstraction, all or nothing thinking, magnification of negative aspects of a situation and minimisation of positive ones. 89
Beck’s theory has been influential and given rise to a number of therapies and treatments which have been helpful in treating people indicating that Beck’s theory must have some credibility and validity. Research from Gotlib and Hamman showed that depressed individual show more negative thinking than non depressed people. This supports Beck’s theory but it is difficult to determine the extent to which disrupted cognitive patterns cause depression as there is no convincing evidence to suggest negative thinking precedes a depressive episode. It is more likely that negative thinking is a consequence of depression and that it maintains the disorder rather than explains its origins.
There is not a single psychological explanation to fully explain the cause of depression. It is likely that it is a range of different factors that interact to bring about the disorder. 137
122 + 89 AO1 = 211
190 + 137 AO2 = 327
Total 538