week 4 forum post responses
In need of a 250 word response/discussion to each of the following forum posts. Agreement/disagreement/and/or continuing the discussion.
Original forum discussion/topic post is as follows:
Forum Assignment for the Week: Discuss the theory of personality behind cognitive therapy. How can you recognize automatic thoughts? Discuss assessment and research in Beck’s theory.
Forum post response #1
According to the research of Wedding & Corsini (2011) there are three fundamental parts of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): collaborative empiricism, Socratic dialogue, and guided discovery. The first one, collaborative empiricism means that there must be a symbiotic relationship between therapist and client; this relationship helps to establish treatment goals, give a client reports on the progress they are making, and define the therapeutic process for those that can find it confusing or overly complex. The goal of this is to rationally investigate a client’s maladaptive beliefs, and challenge any negative thoughts; the focus of this is not a determination of whether or not these thoughts and feelings are rational or irrational, but simply whether they are helpful or harmful to the client (Wedding & Corsini, 2011). The second portion, Socratic Dialogue, is asking a series of carefully designed questions designed to reeducate the client, define the issues they are experiencing, identify any assumptions or beliefs the client holds, examining the meaning behind experiences the client finds meaningful, and determine the consequences if these behaviors are not modified. The goal of this process being used successfully is not to tell a patient what is wrong, but to guide them towards a solution themselves; the other useful part of this process is it offers the best opportunity for the therapist to understand a patient’s point of view on the issues that are challenging them (Wedding & Corsini, 2011). Finally, CBT focuses on Guided Discovery, which is a process is designed to allow the patient to modify his or her maladaptive views. It is during this process that the therapist can run experiments or design exposure therapies designed to teach clients new skills, challenge their perspectives based on rational thinking, empiricism, and observable facts (Wedding & Corsini, 2011).
During the initial phase the therapist will typically work with a client to confront the most dangerous assumptions first. For instance, if a patient that is feeling hopeless and may be contemplating suicide, this would obviously have to be the top priority for this therapist. It can sometimes be helpful to analyze the worst fears or anxieties a patient is facing, and help them understand how likely the possibility of these events actually occurring. A therapist will often assign homework to the client; most often, this begins with a journal in which the client keeps track of their thoughts and feelings. It is difficult to learn, because this process requires a client to consciously be aware of all of their thoughts and feelings, monitor those feelings, and monitor how their emotions are impacted (Wedding & Corsini, 2011). The role of the client will increase and become more active as he or she continues the therapeutic process. The client and therapist must work on the underlying assumptions that define a client’s self-image, and then over time, the cognitive process will challenge and modify the way a client views his or herself. Generally, these thoughts are maladaptive, and therefore not in the client’s best interest. Although CBT can vary depending on the nature of the client’s needs, it tends to be much more structured and shorter in duration than other therapeutic methods (Wedding & Corsini, 2011). One advantage of CBT is that it is adaptive, and can incorporate several psychology methods as needed.
References
Wedding, D., & Corsini, R. (2011). Current psychotherapies. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Forum post response #2
Aaron Beck is considered the founder of cognitive therapy and his ideas are the foundation of many of the cognitive approaches today. This theory is based on the idea that our thoughts and perceptions can impact our feelings and behavior. If we perceive something negatively, we will react in a negative way. For example, if an individual makes a minor mistake, their thinking is ” I can’t do anything right.” Because they are afraid of this negative action, they tend to avoid if completely. If we perceive a situation positively, we will react in a positive way. For example, if an individual makes a minor mistake, they may say, “I will do this correctly the next time.” They won’t beat themselves up for making the mistake but tell themselves next time they will succeed. The goal of this therapy it to help change a person’s negative thinking and behavior. In turn, mood and overall functioning in life will be improved. Cognitive therapy involves therapists working collaboratively with clients to develop skills for identifying and replacing negative thoughts and beliefs. It is usually focused on the present and is a problem-solving orientated treatment.
When working with patients suffering from depression, Beck found that these patients had an overabundant amount of negative thoughts. He called these cognitions “automatic thoughts”. He put these thoughts into three categories:
- Negative ideas about themselves. 2. Negative thoughts about the world. 3. Negative thoughts about the future.
When a person’s stream of automatic thoughts is very negative you would expect a person to become depressed. I work with students on a daily basis. When I have met with some of them I here statements like these, “I am fat, broke, nobody likes me, my parents hate me, I can’t do anything right, or I’m never going to finish my homework. Quite often these negative thoughts will continue even though you see they are not true. Beck learned from his studies that clients believed these thoughts as true because they continually spent time reflecting on these cognitions. In response, he began to help clients to re-evaluate these thoughts and think more realistically, leading to improvements in emotional and behavioral functionality.
Today, cognitive therapy is more commonly known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It is almost always practice with behavioral therapy. This type of therapy is most commonly used for the treatment of anxiety disorders and depression, though it may be suitable in some other situations where negative patterns of thinking have developed.
McLeod, Saul (2008). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Retrieved from: https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-therapy.html
Forum post response #3
Examining the fundamental working philosophy behind Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is to look consciously into one’s thoughts and emotional state. (CBT) can be defined as a mental/emotional construct of how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we act (behavior) all intertwined at one time (McLeod, 2015). It generally is a defining mechanism of how we process thoughts and how those thoughts impact our behavior. Predominately, (CBT) is used in a therapeutic setting to help treat people who have various mental issues.
The origin of Cognitive behavioral therapy, can be linked with the theory developed by Dr. Aaron Beck in the 1960’s. He theorized that when a person has continuous negative thoughts or dysfunctional thoughts, these are the beginning foundations of depression (Chang, 2018). Beck believed that the depth of a persons’ negative self-perception and thoughts has a direct correlation with the depth of their depression. As you think more negatively, so goes the severity of your depression.
Beck, clearly defined that negative thoughts do cause us serious harm, which can eventually manifest themselves into negative actions and self-perceptions. When analyzing CBT, it is designed to offer patients healthier or better yet, alternative means of thinking and behaving, which can lead to a reduction in the levels of stress. Beck believed that there are three Negative cognitive triads, that can control a person’s thinking when they are in a depressed emotional state. Those beliefs are:
I am defective or inadequate.
All of my experiences result in defeats or failures.
The future is hopeless. (Chang, 2018).
In terms of automatic thought, and how to recognize it, you must understand the interpretation and application of the term. Automatic thought can be defined simply as images and thoughts that literally “pop up” in our minds, and may be difficult to interpret as to why it happened. One-way Beck theorized that we can recognize automatic thought, is to attempt to write down on paper, the next time you have a shift in your thinking or emotions. Pay close attention to when those thoughts simply come and go. Attempt to record for one day, paying close attention to your feelings. Also write down how you were feeling or how you were thinking prior to the negative thought. This is a way to create a log of your thoughts and how frequently you are having negative thoughts (Patricelli, 1995). This is called an automatic thought record, which can be very helpful for clinicians when working with clients. It gives written account of their mental thoughts both positive and negative.
In closing, I find that Becks theory is one of the more “user-friendly” types of therapies. CBT, is a tangible tool for most clinician’s psychologist and counselors as well. It seems to be very useful at opening the door for conversations between a therapist and his patient.
