Cognitive Theory Of Depressive Disorder

A depressive disorder in a person is characterized by the dysregulation of emotion in a person’s life. People with depressive disorder lack pleasures in life, and may feel sad for no specific reason or may also feel a sense of elation in the absence of a great achievement. Major depressive disorder (MDD) involves a significant depressive episode, and such lethargies and hopelessness last for about two weeks. MDD affects the daily functioning and is also the leading cause of disability in the United States of America. Individuals with depressive disorder don’t have as many receptors for neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine as compared to a healthy individual. Depression has been associated with particular features of the serotonin transporter gene, and research shows that these features combined with a stressful environment cause depression. Some common symptoms of depression include fatigue or loss of energy, recurrent thoughts of death and suicide, depressed mood most of the day, and feeling worthless excessively.
Behavioral learning theory articulates that people cannot control negative circumstances, which leads them to feel helpless and makes them stop trying to change the situation for the good. This helplessness turns into a feeling of hopelessness which can also be termed as learned helplessness. The cognitive approach tries to explain that thoughts and beliefs contribute to the feeling of hopelessness. Automatic negative thoughts replicate illogical self-defeating beliefs, and these habitual negative thoughts magnify negative experiences. Negative thoughts can also cause a person to blame himself for negative events that may have occurred or may reappear in the