Table of contentsIntroductionBodyConclusionIntroductionMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is a psychological condition that has a negative impact on people's emotional state and their behavior ( Its Psychology, 2019). Signs and symptoms include almost daily depressed mood, low self-esteem, fatigue, lack of energy and enthusiasm to do anything, including their favorite activities. The cognitive approach, developed by Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis, explains depression through the idea that our internal processes affect our behavior. Therefore, an individual suffering from depression is controlled by their irrational thinking. Beck and Ellis use other theories to demonstrate this, such as cognitive theory (1967), the ABC model (1957), and the cognitive triad (1976), which led to the creation of different treatments. One of the many regularly used treatments is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Therapy involves a therapist listening to their client's thoughts, working to challenge and modify their irrational thoughts with alternative beliefs, in order to eliminate them. Research has been done to find out if this treatment is an effective method of treating MDD and to discover its limitations. This topic will be discussed in this essay. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayBodyA person can develop depression; after experiencing a traumatic event like the loss of a loved one, some suggest genetics (chemical imbalance in the brain) or personality traits. The cognitive explanation of depression focuses on internal processes and irrational thoughts leading to a negative effect on behavior. Albert Ellis was a psychologist who created the ABC model to provide insight into the behavior of depressed people and suggested that their irrational thoughts are triggered by external events and that our own beliefs then infer how we feel about the given situation (Katsikis, Kostogiannis & Dryden 2016). . A in the ABC model represents the triggering negative event, for example a breakup. B, in a depressed person's mind, is their irrational belief system. In this example, the belief is that because they experienced a breakup, they are no longer good enough for another relationship. C represents unhealthy negative emotion and the consequences of their irrational belief; feeling of uselessness. If this process continues in an individual, it can lead to depression (Murguia & Díaz 2015). Psychiatrist Aaron Beck's cognitive theory states that depression is caused by a person's beliefs, instead of their negative self-perception being due to depression. These dysfunctional beliefs form from early life experiences and become negative automatic thoughts and responses. The problem therefore lies in the way in which the person perceives situations, more than in the situation itself (Lemoult & Gotlib, 2019). Negative thoughts come from patterns. Schemas are stored and organized mental representations of long-term memories, information and experiences, all connected to each other, creating a network to help interpret new incoming information which, in turn, impacts on cognitive processing. People with the negative patterns of MDD are activated whenever they encounter a new situation resembling an original experience, which causes their mind to re-initiate the same thought path leading to the beliefsirrational (Orue, Calvete & Padilla 2014). Additionally, Beck stated that cognitive distortions are involved in the acquisition of depression; distortions are prejudices that highlight factors that make minds vulnerable to depression (Dhanalakshmi, D. 2014). These include dichotomous reasoning (the individual thinks that if he or she does not complete a certain task, there is no point in trying), selective abstraction (remembering only the negative parts of a event) and overgeneralization (a great generalization). conclusions are drawn on the basis of a negative event) (Rnic, Dozois & Martin, 2016). Aaron Beck developed his theory by creating the Cognitive Triad, a mechanism showing the three forms of negative thinking, representative of people with MDD. One point of the triad concerns negative views of the world, the second concerns negative views of oneself, and finally negative views of the future. Beck believes thoughts form early in life and can trigger underlying assumptions when trauma occurs. This results in future information being treated in a negative light. From the cognitive approach to depression, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was created as a treatment for the disorder. CBT aims to challenge the client's negative assumptions about themselves and the events they have experienced and transform them into positive, realistic thoughts and attempts to address the underlying cognitions causing the depressive behavior. Rumination is part of a patient's thought process. Rumination is repetitive, deep thinking about the same thought, event, or problem (Elizabeth J. Lewis & Jutta Joorman, 2018). CBT aims to eliminate this because it repeats irrational thinking in unhealthy ways. In addition to this, the therapist examines how the patient thinks and feels about a past event and how it affected them (Kendra Cherry, 2019). CBT provides tools that the patient can use outside of therapy, such as journaling, activity planning, and activity planning to avoid relapse. One study used blood biomarkers to help measure whether CBT was effective in a sample of 44 participants with MDD and 30 healthy participants and found that there was a positive change in mood after a CBT session (Keri, Szabolcs, Szabo, Csilla and Kelemen, Oguz, 2014). Although this indicates the effectiveness of CBT, only 44 participants were used, so it is possible that this does not represent the entire target population of people with MDD. Additionally, another study demonstrates how other studies have been done showing that CBT reduces rumination and how it also reduces post-event processing (Price & Anderson 2011). Although the study produced positive results it focused on social anxiety, the effect of CBT on depression may differ and be less impactful. In addition to this, a study was carried out which modified CBT to focus on rumination, producing positive results that CBT can help reduce rates of rumination and depressive symptoms, suggesting that Targeted CBT is more effective than general CBT (Watkins et al., 2007, Watkins et al., 2011). Even more, some studies have shown that CBT is effective, but that it becomes even more so when it is extended, for example, to mindfulness. One study found that depressive symptoms and relapse rates decreased with the use of mindfulness integrated with CBT, meaning that CBT may have restrictions on its effect on a depressed person (Dimidjian, Kleiber, and Segal, 2010). A.