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Clinical Depression » Psychological Explanation of Depression

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

AQA spec: 3.2.4.4

The psychological explanation of depression: the influence of nurture
Negative schemas: negative mental frameworks about the self, the world and the future
Attributions: blaming bad events on internal, stable, global causes
Evaluation, and how this compares with the biological explanation

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Depression and the way we think

The last lesson, Biological Explanation of Depression, said that depression comes from nature: brain chemicals that are out of balance. This lesson looks at the second answer in your specification, the psychological explanation. It says that depression comes from nurture. That means our experiences, and the way we learn to think about ourselves and our lives.

The specification names two ideas: negative schemas and attributions.

Key terms:

Psychological explanation: an explanation that says depression is caused by nurture: experiences and the way we think.
Negative schema: a negative mental framework, a set of ideas that we have built up about the self, the world and the future.
Attribution: the reason we give for why something happened.
Internal, stable, global cause: a reason that is about me, that will never change and that affects every part of my life.

Negative schemas

Remember from the memory lessons that a schema is a mental framework built from experience. A negative schema is one made of negative ideas.

In depression, the negative schema is about three things:

👤 The self

"I am useless. Nobody could like me."

🌍 The world

"People are unkind. Nothing good happens."

🔮 The future

"Things will never get better."

These frameworks are often formed in childhood. A child who is bullied, ignored or constantly criticised may slowly build the idea that they are not good enough. This is the influence of nurture. Later, when something goes wrong, the negative schema makes the person expect the worst and see the bad side of everything. That can lead to the persistent low mood you met in Characteristics of Clinical Depression.

Worked example: a negative schema at work

Two students each get a lower mark than they hoped for. One thinks, "That was a bad day. I will revise differently next time." The other has a negative schema, built up over years of being told they were no good. They think, "I am hopeless, and my life will never go anywhere." The same event leads to very different thoughts, and the second student is more likely to become depressed.

Attributions

When something bad happens, we all try to explain it. The reason we pick is called an attribution. The psychological explanation says that people who become depressed tend to blame bad events on causes that are:

Internal: it is my fault, because of the sort of person I am.
Stable: it will never change.
Global: it affects everything I do, not just this one thing.

😔 Depressed style

"I failed the test because I am stupid and always will be." The cause is internal, stable and global.

🙂 Healthier style

"I failed the test because I did not revise the right topics this time." The cause is about the situation and can be changed.

If you believe that you are the problem, that nothing can change and that it affects your whole life, it is easy to see why you would feel low and hopeless.

Evidence for the explanation

People with depression often describe thinking in exactly these ways: they put themselves down, expect the worst and blame themselves.
Talking treatments that aim to change these thoughts help many people. CBT targets these thoughts (you will study how in a later lesson). This fits the explanation, but a working treatment does not prove what caused the depression.

Evaluating the explanation

✅ Strengths

It explains why one person becomes depressed after a bad event and another does not. It helps explain why CBT, which targets negative thoughts, can work. It looks at real experiences.

❌ Weaknesses

It may blame the person for the way they think. It ignores brain chemistry and genes, so it may be only part of the story. Cause or effect: it is not clear which comes first.

Blame: the explanation puts the cause inside the person's own thinking. This might make someone feel it is their fault that they are depressed, and that they should simply think differently. That could make them feel worse.
It helps explain why CBT works: if depression is linked to negative thoughts, it makes sense that a therapy aimed at those thoughts can help. This is consistent with the explanation, though it does not prove the thoughts were the cause.
Cause or effect? Do negative thoughts cause depression? Or does feeling low make a person start thinking "I am useless"? Finding negative thoughts in depressed people does not tell us which came first.

Nature or nurture?

Now you can compare the two explanations.

🧠 Biological (nature)

The cause is inside the brain: an imbalance of neurotransmitters.

💭 Psychological (nurture)

Depression is caused by negative schemas and attributions, built up through experience. The cause is in the way we think.

Neither one is likely to be the whole story. A good answer can say that nature and nurture may work together. For example, a person might be biologically more at risk, and a harsh childhood might then shape a negative schema.

Common mistakes

Leaving out "internal, stable, global". Saying only "they blame themselves" gets less credit.
Forgetting that a negative schema is about the self, the world and the future.
Mixing this up with the biological explanation. Here the cause is thoughts and experiences, not serotonin.
Explaining how CBT is carried out. For this lesson, just say that it targets these negative thoughts.

Exam-style question

(a) Outline the psychological explanation of depression. [3 marks]

(b) Give one strength of the psychological explanation of depression. [1 mark]

Model answer

(a) Depression is caused by nurture, which means experience and the way we think (1). People have negative schemas, which are negative ideas about themselves, the world and the future (1). They also blame bad events on causes that are internal, stable and global (1).

(b) It is consistent with CBT working, because CBT targets negative thoughts (1).

(c) The psychological explanation is about nurture, so it says depression comes from experiences and thinking (1), whereas the biological explanation is about nature, so it says depression comes from the brain (1). The biological explanation says the cause is an imbalance of neurotransmitters such as low serotonin (1), but the psychological explanation says it is negative schemas and attributions (1).

Exam tip

In a compare question, use a linking word such as "whereas" or "but" in each sentence, so that you say something about both explanations every time.

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