CRJU 440

CBT

cognitive behavioral therapy: cognitive therapy 

Teach them certain things: CBT

Introduce: discuss why the skill is important and beneficial 

1.  Modeling: Use a relatable scenario to demonstrate how the skills steps should be followed 

2. Role play: clients practice the skill

3. Feedback: clients are given feedback on the execution of the skill

4.  Graduated practice: clients are assigned additional practice  the present rather than the future

Focusing on the present rather than the future

Focus on the way in which people think NOW( planning, empathy, flexibility, responsibility, consequences)

Two approaches of CBT: 

1. Cognitive restructuring (changing the way we think)

2. Cognitive skills ( specific skills we use/teach) 

Who are the 2 founders of CBT?

Beck and Eliss - 1976 

How do we teach Cognitive Restruction/Skills: Irrational thinking

1. Role playing

2. Modeling 

3. Bibliotherapy 

4. Behavior therapy techniques 

5. Stories 

6. Philosophic discussions

7. Homework 

8. Visual aids 

What is the ABC: cognitive restructuring?

• A: Activating Event 

• B: Beliefs (about that event)

• C: Consequences ( of those beliefs/decision)

Criminal Thinking Errors : 8 and examples

• Molification: deny or divert blame to others 

1. To justify, rationalize, excuse, or externalize blame for one’s criminal actions 

• Cutoff: act without fully thinking, impulsivity 

1. Rapid elimination of common deterrents (disgust, moral consternation, or fear of legal sanctions) to crime 

• Entitlement: deserve without earning 

1. Belief that one is special or privileged; often conveyed as a misidentification of wants as needs 

• Power orientation: asserting power, labeling people as weak or strong as justification to violate others right 

1. Desire for expert power and control over one’s special environment 

• Sentimentality: self serving acts of kindness, acts to look good for excusing otherwise problematic behavior 

1. Performing various “good deeds” to compensate for the negative consequences of crime 

• Superoptimism: extreme optimism or self confidence 

1. Belief that one can indefinitely avoid the negative consequences of a criminal lifestyle 

• Cognitive indolence: Lazy thinking, choosing not to think because it is painful 

1. Failure to think through solutions to problems, giving rise to lazy, uncritical thinking 

• Discontinuity: inability to follow through 

1. Easily sidetracked: incongruence and inconsistency of thought gives rise to a Jekyll and Hyde persona 

Positive and negative reinforcement 

• Positive reinforcement (if you do __ I will give you + )

• Negative reinforcement (if you do__ I will take away -) 

Positive and negative punishment 

• Positive punishment (if you do ___, you will have to +)

• Negative punishment (if you do __, I will not let you -) 

Therapeutic Communities: 2 main goals, what are they?

1. Improve/Better institutional adjustment 

2. Replicate societal norms to help rehabilitate prior to release 

Relapse prevention 4-step process: 

• Coping skills and social training 

1. Identifying the triggers 

2.  Identify early warning signs 

3.  Develop and Practice Coping Skills to respond to the common and personal 

4.  Collaborate to create and individualized relapse prevention plan

3 specific criminogenic needs 

• Child abuse (trauma history)

• Unhealthy relationships 

• Substance abuse 

Kids are different than adults: how ?

1.  The human brain does not fully mature until 26 or later 

1. Poor understanding of cause and effect, poor impulse control

2.  Society is much more likely to think rehabilitation is deserved and possible 

3. Much more dependent on family resources 

4.  Lack the capacity to support themselves upon release (less education/job skills) 

5. Depending on the state and offense, youth as young as 13 can be tried as adults

Explain the 3 steps of relapse prevention 

• Techniques used are:

• Identification of high risk situations: people, places, and things (triggers) 

1. Create a plan to avoid them 

2. Developing and rehearsing plans for coping with high-risk situations 

• This helps to deal with associations learned through classical conditioning