Cognitive Approach - Therapy: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Flashcards
What are the aims of cognitive therapies
Altering maladaptive thought
What’s the negative cognitive triad
- proposed by Aaron Beck: depressed people in particular, develop a pattern of negative thinking
- they have unrealistic thoughts about: the self, the world, the future
—> Beck’s theory has been used to inform techniques used in CBT = helps client change pessimistic views
What is the Aim of CBT
Challenge the negative thoughts and replace them with constructive positive thinking that will lead to healthy behaviour
—> therapist makes these thoughts conscious and then challenges them = client sees there’s no basis for these thoughts
Does CBT use cognitive or behaviourist techniques in order to help clients
Both
What are the 3 main elements to CBT
1) cognitive element
—> therapist works with client to help identify the negative thoughts
2) Behavioural element
—> encourages client to engage in reality testing
3) Both therapist + client play an active role
What are the main components of CBT
- Dysfunctional thought diary
- Cognitive restructuring
- pleasant activity scheduling
How does a dysfunctional thought diary work
- record the events that lead to unpleasant emotions
- record the automatic negative thoughts associated with these events, then rate how much they believe these thoughts 1-100%
- then write a rational response, then rate belief in response 1-100%
- Finally, re-rate the belief in the automatic thoughts 1-100%
How does cognitive restructuring work
- Client + therapist work together = identifying and changing negative thinking patterns (done collaboratively)
- challenge dysfunctional automatic thoughts through Socratic questioning techniques
- by challenging dysfunctional thoughts and replacing them with constructive ones = clients can try out new ways of behaving
How ones the pleasant activity planner work
- clients plan a pleasant activity for them to practice in every day
- it should be a break from regular routine or give a sense of achievement
—> therefore induces positive emotions because it detracts from negative thinking patterns (this is an examples of behavioural activation)
—> helps them to move towards positive solutions and away from negative thinking patterns
How does CBT link to schemas
- negative schemas are also a cause of mental illness
—> therefore CBT aims to change these negative schemas
What internal mental processes is CBT concerned with
- thinking (maladaptive thoughts)
- attention (pay attention to negative aspects of a situation)
- memory (recalling unhappy events rather than happy ones)
Why is the problem with CBT saying that client’s poor mental health is a result of maladaptive thinking
- damages their self-esteem by saying its only their fault (psychological harm)
—> maladaptive thinking could be caused by other problems like abuse, not always their own fault
—however—> it means that they’re in control, its possible to change
Why is CBT effective
- Supporting evidence from Jarret et al (1999)
- its long lasting = effective
- Removes cause
Why is CBT not effective
- Research evidence against: Hollon et al (1992)
- Not appropriate from all
- Therapist incompetence
- Doesn’t remove the cause
Explain the supporting evidence for why CBT is effective
- Jarret et al (1999)
—> treated 108 patients with severe depression over a 10 week trial
—> CBT proved to be just as effective as some antidepressant drugs
Explain why the long lasting effects of CBT makes it effective
- patients recognise they have the free will to develop their own coping strategies, can use over and over again in the future
- very popular to alternative therapies —> especially to those who couldn’t cope with the determinist principles of other therapies
- CBT has become the most widely used therapy by clinical psychologists working in the NHS
How does removing the cause in CBT prove that its effective
+ the argument for why it doesn’t actually and therefore CBT = doesn’t remove the cause
- it gets rid of maladaptive thoughts —> getting rid of depression
HOWEVER - ignores other causes, such as if mental health is bad due to: abusive relationships, finances, etc
- therefore changing thoughts won’t fix it
Explain the research evidence that proves why CBT isn’t effective
- Hollon et al (1992)
- found no difference in CBT when compared with a slightly different kind of antidepressant drug in a sample of 107 patients over a 10-week trial
- proves that CBT isn’t superior to all antidepressants
Explain why CBT not being appropriate for all proves why CBT isn’t effective
- its less suited for those with increased levels of irrational beliefs that are rigid and resistant to change
- its also less suited in high stress situations that can’t be resolved by therapy (Simons et al. (1995)
Explain why therapist competence proves that CBT is not effective
- Kuyken and Tsiurikos (2009)
- claims that as much as 15% of the variance in outcomes of CBT effectiveness maybe attributable to therapist competence
- therapist competence manifests through the ability structure sessions/plan and review assignments/etc…
Suggest an appropriate conclusion for why CBT is/isn’t effective
- In conclusion CBT can be an effective therapy
- for some people, proven to be as effective as drug therapy, reduces symptoms and the cause of these symptoms in a way that empowers patients to be able to implement these techniques long-term
- However
- not as effective for everybody, especially in situations where the key cause of their problems is not cognitive and is only effective if the therapist is competent enough.
- otherwise: some antidepressants are actually more effective
