Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Essay
Visit an Internet resource devoted to evidence-based practice (Cochrane Collaboration, AHRQ’s National Guideline Clearinghouse, or Bandolier Evidence Based Journal). Review a summary systematic review on a topic of interest. Present your findings to your classmates, and illustrate how this may or may not be used in practice. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Essay
In the United States, substance abuse is a growing public health concern as revealed in recent research. Substance use has been linked to economic, social and health issues with the majority of those affected are aged 12 years and older. Based on the statistics provided by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 21 million adults aged 12 years and older suffer from a substance use disorder. To reduce this incidence, more effective evidence-based interventions such as CBT is being suggested through research. The study by Windsor, Jemal & Alessi (2015), was based on the background knowledge that CBT is an effective treatment method in reducing substance use and efficacious in the management of drug and alcohol use disorders. However, most of these trials have used white participants rather than ethnoracial minorities.
Therefore, the study that was conducted by Windsor, Jemal & Alessi (2015) aimed at determining the effectiveness of CBT as an intervention to reduce substance use among ethnoracial minorities. The study was a meta-analysis that compared the impact of CBT to reduce substance use between Hispanics and non-Hispanics (Windsor, Jemal & Alessi, 2015). It identified 322 manuscripts were, 17 of which met the inclusion criteria. The researchers concluded that, CBT is a useful intervention in reducing substance use among other Hispanics and non-Hispanics and should be culturally-sensitive in both community and hospital settings. This includes the need of understanding the personal worldviews, strengths, and needs and the challenges that are likely to inform more meaningful interventions to improve the chances of being recruited and retained for CBT(Windsor, Jemal & Alessi, 2015). Therefore, CBT should be used in both these settings for substance use prevention.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Essay
References
Windsor, L. C., Jemal, A., & Alessi, E. J. (2015). Cognitive behavioral therapy: A meta-analysis of race and substance use outcomes. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21(2), 300.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION Introduction Cognitive behavioral therapy helps improve people’s moods and behavior by changing their way thinking; also, how they interpret events and talk to themselves. This form of psychotherapy helps guide people into thinking more realistically and teaches them coping strategies to deal with their depression. Cognitive therapy is in most cases a short-term treatment that can have long-term results. I will discuss depression in adolescence and how it affects personal adjustments, which may often continue into adulthood. I will also discuss depression in the elderly. There are different approaches to treating depression, the main approach that will be discussed is cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a way to break the cycle of depression.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? Cognitive behavior therapy helps people break the connections between difficult situations and their habitual reactions to them. This can be reactions such as fear, rage or depression, and self-defeating or self-damaging behavior. It also teaches people how to calm their mind and body, so they can feel better, think more clearly, and make better decisions. Cognitive therapy also teaches people how certain thinking patterns are causing their symptoms. This is accomplished by giving people a distorted picture of what’s going on in their life and making them feel anxious, depressed or angry for no good reason.(Francis, 2000) When people are in behavior therapy and cognitive therapy, it provides them with various tools for stopping their symptoms and getting their life on a more satisfying track. In cognitive therapy, the therapist takes an active part in solving a patient’s problems. He or she doesn’t settle for just nodding wisely while the patient carries the whole burden of finding the answers they came to therapy for initially.
The client-centered model, also sometimes referred to as person-centered, was developed by Carl Rogers around the middle of the twentieth century. Its main focus, as can be guessed from the name of the model, revolves around the clients themselves. Roger believed that it was the clients who knew the best way of dealing with their own problems, and by listening to the words of the clients during a consultation session, by reflecting their words and being emphatic, the therapist can help in the most effective way. Roger believed it to be important that the therapist try to understand the client in the best way, and constantly check whether their understanding and interpretation of the client’s words is the right one. The client-centered approach is also much about respecting the clients and their freedom to express themselves in the most comfortable way, while constantly showing regard, and tolerance, to encourage such free expressions. This model is a bright example of a non-directive approach: meaning that the therapist does not deliberately steer the client, or provoke them, to be more emotional.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Essay
Cognitive behavioral therapy, on the contrary, uses directive consulting tools to control and guide, such as: asking questions. making interpretations. and directing client’s attention and emotional exertions. Some psychologists believe that cognitive behavioral therapy is rather manipulative, especially when compared to the client-centered model. However, this may be rather a surface judgement. Cognitive behavioral therapy has two components: cognitive therapies and behavioral therapies. Cognitive therapy is about how clients interpret the world around them, the environment and situations with which they are faced, and how these cognitive interpretations shape their emotional states and responses. Essentially, cognitive therapy focuses on thinking. It analyzes how and why the client thinks a certain way, and aims at changing these patterns to form positive, nurturing, emotional states that can replace the current state of disharmony that the client is facing. Behavioral therapy is, in a way, the next stage. It focuses on actions rather than thoughts, and equips the therapist with effective tools to form new behavioral patterns for a client by stimulating certain positive “rewards” (emotional, such as praise and encouragement), for the positive changes in behavior that the client demonstrates when encountering a certain problem.
When comparing the two models, it may seem that the role of the therapist is a lot less important in the client-centered model than in the cognitive behavioral therapy. However, this impression is far from being true. In fact, the client-centered approach is much about how the therapist encourages the client to open up by showing congruence. Being congruent means being self-aware, self-accepting, and having no mask between oneself and the client (Janon 28). The therapist is to be as honest and natural as possible, while showing sincere empathy, and nurturing the client’s inner capacity towards healing. Being appreciative of the honesty and hard work that the client is demonstrating, from session-to-session, will eventually bring fruitful results. However, this may take time, and when using the client-centered model, the therapist should be prepared that counseling may be rather prolonged.
Cognitive behavioral therapy, on the contrary, is usually used as a short-term treatment method. By actively engaging in the dialogue with the client and encouraging the client to develop a challenging attitude towards their own thoughts and feelings, even giving homework assignments and asking the client to keep a diary, the cognitive behavioral approach usually allows one to quickly see positive improvement, and gradually progress towards the desired goal. Cognitive behavioral therapy is also more structured and goal-oriented, and it allows the client and the therapist to work together towards the specific set aims, step-by-step (Norman 201). Tracking progress towards goals throughout the course of treatment allows one to fairly evaluate the success of the sessions, as well serving as an additional motivating factor for the client to believe in the reality of positive changes by putting checkmates next to each of the small achievements.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Essay
Without close examination, the two models of counseling may seem like completely contrary methods. It is in fact true that there are a lot of differences between the two approaches, and it can clearly be seen through the above analysis. Nevertheless, the main foundations for both kinds of therapy are similar. They both concentrate on forming a mutual understanding and a cooperative atmosphere between the therapist and the client, while assuring the latter that it is the clients themselves who are the best experts on their own issues. Both models allow the client to actively participate in the process of healing, and in the case of the client-centered model, to even take the leading and controlling role in this process. For all these reasons, I believe it is important that a prudent therapist is properly armed with both concepts and is able to choose either one or the other based on how far the client already is towards regaining control of their own life.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Essay