Becks Cognitive Theory of Depression Features Underlying Dysfunctional Beliefs
Becks main argument was that depression was instituted by ones view of oneself, instead
of one having a negative view of oneself due to depression. This has large social
implications of how we as a group perceive each other and relate our dissatisfactions with
one another. Abela and DAlessandros (2002) study on college admissions is a good
example of this phenomenon. In their study they found that the students negative views
about their future strongly controlled the interaction between dysfunctional attitudes and
the increase in depressed mood. The research clearly backed up Becks claim that those at
risk for depression due to dysfunctional attitudes who did not get into their college of
choice then doubted their futures, and these thoughts lead to symptoms of depression.
Therefore, the students self-perceptions became negative after failing to get into college,
and many showed signs of depression due to this thinking. Other aspects of this study did
not match up well with Beck. They elaborate: “As for participants more enduring mood
reactions, our findings are incongruent with Becks…theory…. Therefore, one possible
explanation of discrepancies between these studies is that immediately following the
occurrence of a negative event, cognitively vulnerable individuals show marked increases
in depressed mood. At the same time, the do not yet exhibit increases in other symptoms of
depression…. However, in vulnerable individuals.such depressed mood may be to be
accompanied by a host of other depressive symptoms…. Their level of depressed mood,
however, was simply not more severe than individuals who did not possess dysfunctional
attitudes” (Abela & DAllesandro, 2002, p.122). What occurred is that the requirements,
according to Beck, for depressive symptoms were there but they did not occur regardless.
Findings like this show that Becks theory may not be as complete as we would like, and
there is likely to be factors which are unaccounted for in play in situations like this.
Another study, which was performed on Becks Theory, was Sato and McCanns (2000)
study on the Beck sociotropy-autonomy scale. The scale had originally meant to identify
self-feelings that would lead to depression, mainly solitude/interpersonal insensitivity,
independence, and individualistic achievement. However, the results of the study showed
that the independence did not correlate with depression, and the sociotropy, not autonomy
was a precursor of depression. As they described, sociotropy can be characterized by an
individuals emphasis on interpersonal interactions involving intimacy, sharing, empathy,
