Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Basic Assumption

people contribute to their own psychological problems & specific symptoms by the rigid & extreme beliefs they hole about events & situations 

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

Teaches that our emotions are mainly created from our beliefs, evaluations, interpretations, & reactions to life situations  

A,B,C Framework

A - existence of an activating event or interference about an even by a person

B - person’s belief about A

C - emotional & behavioral consequences or reaction of the person which is healthy/unhealthy

(B - the person’s belief about A, largely creates C (the emotional reaction)

A-B-C Example

Beliefs about the rejections/failures (at point B) are what mainly causes the depression (at point C) - not the actual event of the divorce or the person’s inference of failure (at point A)

3 components:

1. Detecting

2. Debating

3. Discriminating

Discriminate

Clients learn to discriminate irrational (self-defeating) beliefs from rational (self-helping) beliefs

Detect & debate

Once they can detect irrational beliefs, especially absolutistic “should” & “must” clients debate dysfunctional beliefs by logically questioning them 

Homework

carefully designed & agreed upon & is aimed at getting clients to carry out

THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES

• disputing irrational beliefs

• doing cognitive homework

• bibliography

• changing one’s language

• psychoeducational methods

• using humor

• role playing

• Rational Emotive Imagery

• Shame-attacjing excercises

• standard behavior therapy procedures

Rational Emotive Imagery

form of intense mental practice designed to establish new emotional patterns in place of disruptive ones by thinking in healthy ways  

Shame-Attacking Exercises

exercise to help people reduce shame & anxiety over behaving in certain ways by refusing to feel ashamed by telling ourselves that it is not catastrophic if someone thinks we are foolish

Negative Cognitive Triad

negative views of the self (self-criticism), the world (pessimism), and the future (hopelessness) 

Arbitrary Inferences

conclusions drawn w/o supporting evidence such as “catastrophizing” of thinking the worst scenario for most situations

Selective Abstraction

forming conclusions based on an isolated detail of an event while ignoring other information 

Overgeneralization

process of holding extreme beliefs on the basis of a single incident & applying them inappropriately to dissimilar events or settings 

Magnification & minimization

perceiving a case/situation in a greater or lesser light than it truly is 

Personalization

tendency for individuals to relate external events to themselves, even when there is no basis for making this connection

Labeling & mislabeling

portraying one’s identity on the basis of imperfections & mistakes made in the past & allowing them to define one’s true identity

Dichotomous thinking

categorizing experience in either-or extremes

Collaborative Empiricism

asking open-ended questions to clients w/ the aim of getting clients to reflect on personal issued & arrive at their own conclusions 

Cognitive Therapy for depression

16 to 20 sessions & begins w/ behavioral action 

Cognitive Therapy for panic disorder

6-12 sessions & targets catastrophic beliefs about internal & physical mental sensations