relationship between thinking, affect and behaviour

Last reviewed 01/2018

The cognitive model assumes that there are a series of reciprocal relationships between thinking and behaviour and between thinking and emotion. Examples of some of these reciprocal relationships are given below :-

- it is thought that depression may facilitate the retrieval of negative information and impairs retrieval of positive information. When taken in conjunction with the suggestion that certain types of negative thought produce depressed affect, this work suggests that a depressed individual is trapped in a vicious cycle in which negative thinking produces a further increase in the probability of negative thoughts.

- a second vicious cycle also exists in depression. Believing that they are ineffective and likely to fail, depressed individuals often withdraw from everyday activities. This means that they are unlikely to experience any of the positive events which might help alleviate their depression.

- in anxiety, bodily symptoms such as palpitations, dizziness and faintness can be provoked by an individual perceiving danger in the external world. However, once provoked, these symptoms can become sources of further threat. For example, a racing heart may be interpreted as evidence of an impending heart attack: blushing as evidence you have made, or are about to make, yourself a fool.

Cognitive therapy aims to treat anxiety and depression by teaching the patients how to identify, evaluate, control and modify the negative thoughts and associated behaviours involved in the vicious cycles.