A cognitive vulnerability in

cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which ...

is an erroneous belief,

cognitive bias A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment. Individuals create their own "subjective reality" from their perception of the input. An individual's construction of reality, not the objective input, ...

, or pattern of thought that predisposes an individual to psychological problems. The vulnerability exists before the symptoms of a psychological disorder appear. After the individual encounters a stressful experience, the cognitive vulnerability shapes a maladaptive response that increases the likelihood of a psychological disorder. In

psychopathology Psychopathology is the study of abnormal cognition, behaviour, and experiences which differs according to social norms and rests upon a number of constructs that are deemed to be the social norm at any particular era. Biological psychopathol ...

, there are several perspectives from which the origins of cognitive vulnerabilities can be examined, It is the path way of including cognitive schema models, hopelessness models, and

attachment theory Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory concerning relationships between humans. The most important tenet is that young children need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal ...

Attentional bias Attentional bias refers to how a person's perception is affected by selective factors in their attention. Attentional biases may explain an individual's failure to consider alternative possibilities when occupied with an existing train of thought. ...

is one mechanism leading to faulty cognitive bias that leads to cognitive vulnerability. Allocating a danger level to a threat depends on the urgency or intensity of the threshold. Anxiety is not associated with selective orientation.

Theories

Cognitive theory

Preliminary or "distal" causes contribute to the formation of a cognitive vulnerability that ultimately, via immediate or proximal causes, leads to the individual manifesting symptoms of the disorder. Immediate cognitive and emotional responses trigger imagery and assumptions formed in the past leading to offsetting, defensive behavior and in turn reinforcing mistaken beliefs or other cognitive vulnerabilities.

Attachment theory

The contact made with caretakers determines a certain attachment process. When secure attachment is disrupted and starts to become insecure, abnormal patterns begin, increasing risk for depression. Working models build

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system, ...

s of relationships with others. Cognitive vulnerability is created with maladaptive cognitive processing when building relationships and attachments.

The diathesis-stress relationship

Diathesis Diathesis (from the Greek διάθεσις "grammatical voice, disposition") may refer to: *Grammatical voice *Diathesis (medical), a hereditary or constitutional predisposition to a disease or other disorder ** Predisposition (psychology) ***The d ...

contributes to vulnerability. The diathesis refers to the inclination to illness. In the diathesis-stress relationship, hidden vulnerability is activated through events that the individual perceives as stressful. Vulnerability in psychological terms is implied as an increased probability of emotional pain and some type of

. Vulnerability can be a combination and interaction of genetic or acquired experiences. Vulnerability leads to putting up with something unpleasant and represents symptoms of various psychological disorders. Vulnerability predisposes individuals to a disorder, but does not initiate the disorder. Depending on the individual's subjective perception of an event, the diathesis leads to a certain psychological illness.

Psychological problems

Depression

Through several cognitive biases, selective mood-congruent cues become established over long intervals. Emotional

stimuli A stimulus is something that causes a physiological response. It may refer to: *Stimulation ** Stimulus (physiology), something external that influences an activity **Stimulus (psychology), a concept in behaviorism and perception *Stimulus (econom ...

matching the emotional concerns create an aggregate effect on symptoms related to depression. Depression is associated with selective orientation. It prevents attention toward emotional cues that do not fit the internalized scheme to which the individual has become vulnerable, and leads to comorbid anxiety. When individuals who are prone to depression are asked to recall a specific event, they explain the general class of events (e.g., "The time when I was living with my parents").

Dual process model

Associative and reflective processing mechanisms apply when cognitive vulnerability is processed into depression. The dual process model is valid in social and personality psychology but is not adapted to clinical phenomena. Negative bias in self-assessment provides a foundation for a cognitive vulnerability to depression. Then a downward spiral forms to create forms of

dysphoria Dysphoria (; ) is a profound state of unease or dissatisfaction. It is the semantic opposite of euphoria. In a psychiatric context, dysphoria may accompany depression, anxiety, or agitation. In psychiatry Intense states of distress and uneas ...

. Negatively biased associative processing will maintain a dysphoric mood state. As the dysphoric mood escalates, cognitive resources necessary to combating dysphoria by reflective processing are depleted. Irrelevant tasks and intrusive thoughts come to mind when in a dysphoric mood, and cognitive resource depletion further contributes to mood escalation.

=Feedback loop

= The feedback loop in the dual process model is between self referent cognition and dysphoria. The feedback loop establishes an inability to apply reflective processing to correct negative biases.

= Mood persistence

= Postponing the reflective processes leads to mood persistence. The individual becomes accustomed to a state of dysphoria as they experience more and more negative mood states. Dysphoric moods create more associative processing for depressive vulnerable people by negative

es. When associative bias gets stronger, the bias becomes difficult to override. Ineffective reflective strategies lead to persistence of dysphoric moods.

A depressive episode as a vulnerability factor for depression

The likelihood of another depressive episode escalates with the number of previous episodes. A depressive episode by itself is a vulnerability factor. Each episode of depression makes it easier for the

neurotransmitter A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a synapse. The cell receiving the signal, any main body part or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell. Neur ...

system to become deregulated. A strong stressor is needed for the initializing first episode; however, subsequent episodes can be triggered by increasingly mild stressors. Contextual information develops such that small changes in mood are sufficient to activate vulnerability. Weakening and frequency of depressive episodes triggers the biological processes related to the initial episode. Depressive episodes are experienced as having no control over traumatic events. A depressive condition results in social rejection and lowered self esteem, leading to further depressive symptoms.

Schema models

Schemas in depression are formed in association with stressful events in childhood and condition the individual to respond in an abnormal manner to life experiences that recall those childhood traumas. During childhood and adolescence, the individual who is prone to depression begins to match life situations with prototypes of specific stressful experiences from childhood. The cognitive vulnerability thus manifests itself.

Learned helplessness

Negative events during childhood lead the child to internalize negative events. Just as repeated positive experiences lead the child to develop a positive

self image The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...

and

optimism Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled w ...

regarding future events, negative events lead to the development of expectations of hopelessness or even depression when the individual faces a stressful situation in the future.

Bipolar disorder

A study of people with

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

found that, compared with non-bipolar controls, they had significantly higher levels of dysfunctional attitudes such as perfectionism and need for approval that increase their cognitive vulnerability to depression.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Cognitive disorders Cognitive psychology

Vulnerability {{Cat main Articles relating to vulnerability, "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally." A window of vulnerability (WOV) is a time frame within which defensive measures ...