C1: Cognitive behavioural therapy Flashcards
What are the main components of cognitive behavioural therapy?
- Dysfunctional thought diary
- Cognitive restructuring
- Pleasant activity scheduling.
What is cognitive behavioural therapy? (intro)
A cognitive and behaviourist therapy developed by Beck that sought to challenge clients’ negative, irrational thoughts and replace them with constructive thinking patterns.
How does the cognitive approach relate to cognitive behavioural therapy? (intro)
It focuses on treating problematic human behaviour by making clients challenge the irrational thoughts and negative thinking patterns.
What does the dysfunctional thought diary component of CBT entail?
A homework task in which the client is expected to keep a record on all their ‘automatic’ thoughts and feelings leading up to any negative experience/event
What does the cognitive restructuring component of cognitive behavioural therapy entail?
Clients being taught to challenge the automatic dysfunctional thoughts that underpin their mental illness (through the means of socratic questioning) in order to replace them.
What is pleasant activity scheduling?
When clients are expected to plan and execute a daily activity that makes them feel accomplished in the hopes that it would detract them from their negative thoughts and feelings
What ethical issues/concerns are associated with cognitive behavioural therapy
- right to withdraw
- harm to clients
- empowerment (protection of clients)
What is a positive ethical issue associated with cognitive behavioural therapy?
Right to withdraw
What is meant by the right to withdraw?
The legal right that clients have to leave at any point during their therapy session without suffering any repercussions `
What evidence is there to support that the right to withdraw is a positive ethical issue of CBT (rtw w cbt)
When CBT has been offered by the NHS, clients are expected to attend for a set number of sessions, where the client is just required to discuss their negative thoughts and feelings with the therapist - if a client feeling uncomfortable or overwhelmed by this prospect, they are able to leave the session - similarly if clients feel as though their symptoms of their mental illness has improved, they can simply stop attending their CBT sessions.
Why is the right to withdraw a positive ethical issue of CBT? (rtw w cbt)
The client retains control throughout the whole therapy, which allows them to act in the best interests of their safety and wellbeing in comparison to psychosurgery, a biological therapy designed to treat the same issues as CBT, which is fairly invasive and can be difficult for patients to withdraw from at times/
What is a negative ethical issue associated with CBT? (htc w cbt)
Harm to clients
What is meant by harm to clients?
When a client is left in a much worse state than what they were originally in, despite the fact that psychologists have a legal obligation not to inflict any mental or physical harm upon anyone they treat
What evidence is there to support that harm to clients is a negative ethical issue of CBT (htc w cbt)
as a part of the cognitive restructuring component of CBT, clients are expected to challenge their negative thoughts - although some of the client’s thoughts that may not be irrational may be seen as being such by their therapist resulting in the client feeling that they must change them, with Alloy and Abrahamson’s (1979) ‘sadder but wiser effect’ which implies that depressed people see the world for what is is whereas happier people distort reality in a positive way/
Why is harm to clients a negative ethical issue of CBT (htc w cbt)
It serves in damaging the client’s self-esteem as it may feel as though their therapist undermines their ability to understand their own thoughts and feelings, leading them to incorrectly believe that they have poor judgement.
What is another positive ethical issue associated with CBT (e w cbt)
empowerment
What is meant by the term ‘empowerment’
The motivation that client’s may experience from feeling a sense of self-control
What evidence is there to support that empowerment is a positive ethical issue of CBT (e w cbt)
The negative automatic thoughts and feelings that the client focuses and challenges are their perception of them (from what they write in their thought diary) and not their therapists
Why is empowerment a positive ethical issue of CBT (e w cbt)
It makes the client feel responsible for their disorder and thus empowers them by showing them that they have the free will to change the way they think
Why does CBT having a high success rate mean that is is effective? (HSR w CBT)
measurable empirical evidence - which has been supported by Cahill et al (2005) who found that 71% of people experienced a reduction in their depressive symptoms following CBT
Therefore why is having a high success rate one way in which CBT is effective (HSR w CBT)
It has higher improvement rate for the symptoms of depression than most other mainstream therapies and is comparable to drug therapy
What evidence is there to support that ignoring individual differences means that CBT is ineffective (ID W CBT)
Simons et al had found that CBT was not suitable for indivduals who experience a high frequency of irrational thoughts that are especially resistant to change, as well as situations where the client’s negative thoughts are a result of real-life stressors (eg divorce)
Why does CBT ignoring individual differences mean that it is ineffective (ID W CBT)
It only really treats the symptoms of mental illness rather than the symptoms from stress-inducing life events, which may be equally as harmful to some individuals as mental illness.
