Cognitive Therapies

Albert Ellis

Founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

Aaron Beck

Founder of Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Goal of REBT

Maximize pleasure and minimize pain

ABCs of REBT

Activating event, Belief, Emotional Consequence

REBT Theory of Psychopathology

Psychopathology occurs when irrational beliefs cause emotional consequences

REBT — psychopathology in ABCs

Pathology resides in our Beliefs rather than in experiences or emotional responses

Qualities of self-disturbing philosophies

Rigid and dogmatic

Unrealistic and over-generalized attributions

REBT Therapeutic Processes

ABCDE

D

Dispute the irrational belief

E

(develop an) effective new philosophy for interpreting events

Consciousness raising in REBT

Educate through reading and psychoeducation

Cognitive challenges or refutations

Contingency management in REBT

rearrange reinforcements to support behavior changes— contract consequences

Counterconditioning in REBT

replace irrational thinking with rational thinking

REBT Therapeutic Relationship

Unconditional acceptance for client

Self-disclosure is common

Core Beliefs

Early experiences inform the development of self-referent schemas

Intermediate Beliefs

Core beliefs inform rules or conditions that govern how we interpret events (still below conscious thought)

Automatic Thoughts

Immediate, sometimes constant stream of conscious thought

Cognitive Therapy’s Theory of Psychopathology

Maladaptive conditions and dysfunctional attitudes cause psychopathology

Depressive core beliefs

Unlovability

Inadequacy

Distorted Cognitive Schemas

Dysfunctional beliefs aren’t necessarily irrational but are

Overgeneralization

One experience applies to all situations

Selective abstraction

Only measuring oneself via failure

Excessive responsibility

Assuming oneself is responsible for all failures

Self-references

Assumption that everyone is paying attention to you

Dichotomous thinking

Everything is either one extreme or the other

Cognitive Triad of Depression

Bad world

Bad self

Bad future

Metacognitive awareness

(Consciousness raising) Awareness of problematic thoughts

Choosing in CT

Choosing to challenge thoughts

Contingency management in CT

Behaviorist homework

Reevaluating consequences

Counterconditioning in CT

Response prevention

Therapeutic Relationship of CT

Collaborative empiricism

Collaborative empiricism

Shared mission to determine dysfunctional thoughts and pursue better ones

Anxiety

Inappropriate consequences of irrational/distorted beliefs

Self-esteem

Worth can’t be defined

Unconditional self-acceptance

Responsibility

We’re responsible for what we can control

Intimacy and sexuality

Love isn’t a necessity

Sex can be just for fun

Communication

Effective dialogue is rare because people who can think effectively are rare

Hostility

Result of crooked thinking: “this is the only intervention I can make”

Control

An irrational demand that the world conforms to one’s wishes

Adjustment vs transcendence

Transcendence is unrealistic

Must focus on fixing ourselves because we can’t change society

Impulse control

Desires aren’t needs

Meaning of life

What makes life enjoyable?

Ideal individual

Scientists

Childish dependency

Ellis’s belief about religion