CBT - one psychological therapy for depression (A01) Flashcards
WHAT IS THE AIM OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY (CBT) AS A THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION?
The aim of CBT as a therapy for depression is to help the client achieve REMISSION of their depression and to prevent furture RELAPSE by: (1) helping them identify where their thoughts, beliefs, expectations are ‘irrational’ and accept them as irrational; (2) replace these irrational perceptions with rational ones so that life events are interpreted differently resulting in a more positive emotional response.
WHAT DO THE THERAPIST AND CLIENT WORK TOGETHER AS IN CBT?
A team.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ONE’S VIEW OF SELF IN CBT AS A THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION?
One’s view of ‘self’ is vitally important in the effectiveness of CBT as a therapy for depression. The therapist helps the client to view themselves, and their personal experiences, in a more positive way so as to foster a less negative emotional response to life events and experiences.
WHO IS GENERALLY THOUGH OF AS THE CREATOR OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY?
Aaron Beck.
WHAT IS RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOURAL-THERAPY (REBT)? HOW IS IT INTENDED TO HELP SOMEONE WITH DEPRESSION?
REBT is a form of CBT in which the goal is to help the client recognise how their automatic emotional responses are the result not of events or experiences, but instead are the result of their automatic negative perceptions of the event. It is intended to reduce the symptoms of depression by reducing the extent to which a person experiences depressed mood as a response their life experiences.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ‘LEARNING’ IN CBT AS A THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
The therapist helps the client to learn to identify and evaluate their ?automatic thoughts? (spontaneously occurring verbal or imaginal cognitions), and to correct their thinking so that it more closely resembles reality. Learning is important because it means the client can apply what they have learnt to new situations - hence CBT is potentially a long term solution.
IS CBT AS A THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION A RELATIVE QUICK TREATMENT, OR RELATIVELY LENGTHY? WHY?
CBT is a relatively lengthy treatment for depression because the aim is to: (1) establish from where the client’s irrational perceptions have stemmed - which is dependent on the therapist developing a rapport with the client such that he is able to develop an understanding of how life events and experiences led to the development of the core beliefs, underlying assumptions, and coping strategies which are causing the symptoms of depression; (2) help the client challenge and alter these core beliefs. Establishing a trusting relationship between the therapist and client takes time; the process of challenging and altering core beliefs is inevitably a slow one because these core beliefs will, by their very nature, be deep-seated and resistance to change, seeing as they are likely to be deeply internalised.
IDENTIFY SOME TECHNIQUES A COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPIST MIGHT USE TO HELP SOMEONE WITH DEPRESSION
- Cognitive Conceptualisation; 2. Activity and Thought Diaries; 3. Self-Help Therapy; 4. Therapy Reviews.
WHAT IS CONGITIVE CONCEPTUALISATION?
Cognitive conceptualisation is the process used by the therapist to record the client’s pattern of thinking and perception. By asking the client specific questions about particular experiences and their responses to it, the therapist can begin to identify habitually occurring automatic thoughts. Once these automatic thoughts are identified, the therapist will then ask further questions to establish the client’s automatic compensatory coping strategies. Once a complete picture of core beliefs, automatic thoughts and compensatory behaviours has been drawn up, the therapist can then begin to work with the client to look back into the past to try and establish where these core beliefs stem from. It is only then that they can work together to begin challenging and altering these beliefs.
WHAT ARE ACTIVITY AND THOUGHT DIARIES?
An activity diary is a simple record of what the client does over a period of time - usually between therapy sessions. The client is asked to literally record hour by hour, what they have done, who they have met, etc during that time. The purpose of the activity diary is to help the therapist identify possible triggers for the irrational automatic thoughts that are resulting in depression. Thought diaries are a record of the clients’ thoughts over a period of time - a ‘dysfunctional thought record’, for example, is a record kept by the client of situations where they have been able to identify irrational authomatic thoughts. By recording the situation and their thoughts/responses to it, this provides evidence which the therapist and client can work on together to analyse.
WHAT IS A SELF-THERAPY SESSION?
A self-therapy session is something the therapist will encourage the client to engage in between client-therapist sessions (after the client has been in therapy for some time) - a form of ‘homework’. In the self-therapy session, the client will ask themselves question such as: ‘what positive things have happened in the past week?’, ‘what do i deserve credit for?’, ‘what problems have Iencountered?’, ‘how could I have responded differently to that situation?’, etc. The prupose of these self-therapy sessions is to help the client establish confidence in themeslves to be able to evaluate and manage their own thinking and behaviours.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ACCEPTANCE IN CBT AS A THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION?
Acceptance is a very important concept in CBT. In order for CBT to be deemed as having been effective, the client will need to have devekoped a sense of acceptance about: (1) themselves - “I am a good person, it is ok to make mistakes sometimes”; (2) other people - “not everyone has to like me, other people donlt always have to meet my expectations”; and (3) life - “things don’t always pan out the way I’d planned, sometimes accidents happen”.
