COGNITIVE THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION - CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL ISSUES

The guiding principle of cognitive models of depression is that the wa y in which an individual interprets an event determines how he/she wil l respond to that event. In the most well-known cognitive model of dep ression, Beck and his colleagues propose four specific cognitive proce sses to explain the phenomenon of depression: The cognitive triad, cog nitive errors, depressogenic cognitive schemata, and the cognitive-per sonality vulnerability factors of sociotropy and autonomy. Cognitive t herapy has been proven effective in treating a wide variety of psychop athological conditions, and its scope continues to broaden. However, D obson and Pusch (1993) also raised two fundamental issues with respect to cognitive therapy. First, they expressed concern about the empiric al status of cognitive therapy. Second, they expressed concern that ap plications of cognitive therapy may be pushing beyond the conceptual b oundaries. This article will provide an updated review of the first is sue with respect to unipolar depression. The purposes of this article are to review the empirical status of cognitive therapy for unipolar d epression, to address theoretical issues regarding cognitive therapy, and to recommend areas and issues which require further study and cons ideration.