Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive Therapy• Cognitive therapy attempts to change problem feelings

and behaviors by changing the way a client thinks about significant life experiences

Changing false beliefs

• Faulty thinkingUnreasonable attitudes (“Being perfect is the most

important trait for a student to have”)False premises (“If I do everything they want me to,

then I’ll be popular”)Rigid rules that put behavior on automatic pilot so

that prior patterns are repeated even when they have not worked (“I must obey authorities”)

Cognitive therapy for depression• A cognitive therapist helps a client to correct faulty

patterns of thinking by substituting more effective problem-solving techniques• “The therapist helps the patient to identify his warped

thinking and to learn more realistic ways to formulate his experiences” – Aaron Beck• Beck believes that depression is maintained because

depressed patients are unaware of the negative automatic thoughts that they habitually formulate, such as “I will never be as good as my brother”; “Nobody would like me if they re-ally knew me”; and “I’m not smart enough to make it in this competitive school.”

• A therapist uses four tactics to change the cognitive foundation that supports the clients’ depressionChallenging the client’s basic assumptions about his or her functioning.

Evaluating the evidence the client has for and against the accuracy of automatic thoughts.

Reattributing blame to situational factors rather than to the patient’s incompetence.

Discussing alternative solutions to complex tasks that could lead to failure experiences

Rational Emotive therapy•One of the earliest forms of cognitive therapy developed by Albert Ellis• RET is a comprehensive system of personality change based on the transformation of irrational beliefs that cause undesirable, highly charged emotional reactions, such as severe anxiety• Rational-emotive therapists teach clients how to recognize the “shoulds,” “oughts,” and “musts” that are controlling their actions and preventing them from choosing the lives they want

•They attempt to break through a client’s closed-mindedness by showing that an emotional reaction that follows some event is really the effect of unrecognized beliefs about the event•Rational-emotive therapy aims to increase an individual’s sense of self-worth and the potential to be self-actualized by getting rid of the system of faulty beliefs that block personal growth

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy• You are what you tell yourself you can be, and you are guided by what you believe you ought to do• This therapeutic approach combines the cognitive emphasis on changing false beliefs with the behavioral focus on reinforcement contingencies in the modification of performance• A critical part of this therapeutic approach is the discovery by therapist and client of the way the client thinks about and expresses the problem for which therapy is sought

•Once both therapist and client understand the kind of thinking that is leading to unproductive or dysfunctional behaviors, they develop new self-statements that are constructive and minimize the use of self-defeating ones that elicit anxiety or reduce self-esteem • Through setting attainable goals, developing realistic strategies for attaining them, and evaluating feedback realistically, you develop a sense of mastery and self-efficacy

Humanistic Therapies• Humanistic therapies focus on self-development, growth

and responsibilities. They seek to help individuals recognise their strengths, creativity and choice in the 'here and now’• The humanistic approach in psychology developed as a rebellion against what some psychologists saw as limitations of the behaviorist and psychodynamic psychology. The humanistic approach is thus often called the “third force” in psychology after psychoanalysis and behaviorism (Maslow, 1968).

Features of Humanistic Theories• For Carl Rogers (1902–1987), the self is a central concept for personality• self signals a key feature of all humanistic theories, which is an emphasis on the drive toward self-actualization• Self-actualization is a constant striving to realize one’s inherent potential• The striving toward self-fulfillment is a constructive, guiding force that moves each person toward generally positive behaviors and enhancement of the self.

• The drive for self-actualization at times comes into conflict with the need for approval from the self and others eg: when a child misbehaves, parents should emphasize that it is the behavior they disapprove of, not the child• As an adult, you need to give to and receive unconditional positive regard from those to whom you are close. Most important, you need to feel unconditional positive self-regard, or acceptance of yourself, in spite of the weaknesses you might be trying to change

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Basic Needs

Self-actualization Needs

Esteem Needs

Love & Belonging Needs

Safety Needs

Biological Needs

• In addition, humanistic theories have been described as being holistic, dispositional and phenomenological•Holistic :-Humanistic theories are holistic because they explain people’s separate acts in terms of their entire personalities; people are not seen as the sum of discrete traits that each influence behavior in different ways•Dispositional :-Humanistic theories are dispositional because they focus on the innate qualities within a person that exert a major influence over the direction behavior will take

• Phenomenological :-Humanistic theories are phenomenological because they emphasize an individual’s frame of reference and subjective view of reality—not the objective perspective of an observer or of a therapist

Unconditional positive regard• We need this to accept all parts of our personality.

• With this we know we are loved & valued for being who we are.

• Parents can do this, by it clear that their love is not contingent on the child’s behavior (even when such behavior is abhored).

•Humanistic theorists emphasized each individual’s drive toward self-actualization. This group recognized, however, that people’s progress toward this goal is determined, in part, by realities of their environments. We turn now to theories that directly examine how individuals’ behaviors are shaped by their environments.

Goal of Humanistic Therapy

• the goal of a humanistic therapy was to help the individual achieve the joy of self-realization and promote the inherent constructive forces in human nature that support a striving for self-fulfillment• Believe in Free Will

• Humanist do not believe that human being are pushed and pulled by mechanical forces, either of stimuli and reinforcements (behaviorism) or of unconscious instinctual impulses (psychoanalysis).

• Emphasize the uniqueness of each individual• Believe that humans strive for an upper level of

capabilities.• Humans seek the frontiers of creativity, the

highest reaches of consciousness and wisdom.

Group Therapy•group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. • It may include supporting groups such as anger management, mindfulness, relaxation training or social skills training•Other, more specialized forms of group therapy would include non-verbal expressive therapies such as art therapy, dance therapy, or music therapy.

• There are several reasons why group therapy has flourished. Some advantages are

• therapy is less expensive to participants and allows small numbers of mental health personnel to help more clients

• It is a less threatening situation for people who have problems • It allows group processes to be used to influence individual maladaptive behavior;• It provides people with opportunities to observe and practice interpersonal skills within the therapy session;• It provides an analogue of the primary family group, which enables corrective emotional experiences to take place.

Problems in Group Therapy• some groups establish a culture in which little progress

can be made• members create a norm of passivity and limited self-

disclosure• effectiveness of groups can change dramatically when

members leave or join the groups

Family group therapy and Family therapist• In family therapy, the client is a whole nuclear family, and

each family member is treated as a member of a system of relationships• Family therapy can focus on both the child’s problem and

the parent’s behaviors that may maintain that problem.• The job of the family therapist is to understand the

structure of the family and the many forces acting on it. Then he or she works with the family members to dissolve “dysfunctional” structural elements while creating and maintaining new, more effective structures

Self Help Groups• Self-help groups appear to serve a number

of functions for their members: For example, they provide people with a sense of hope and control over their problems, they engage social support for people’s suffering, and they provide a forum for dispensing and acquiring information about disorders and treatments (Groh et al., 2008). Researchers have begun to demonstrate that self-help groups may help bring relief alongside other forms of therapy. For example, participation in self-help groups has the potential to reduce symptoms of depression