COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIOUR THERAPIES Therapy and Change Learning

COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIOUR THERAPIES Therapy and Change

Learning Intention: To describe cognitive therapies and their aims. To explain the processes and goals of behavior therapy

IMAGINE Five times a day for several days, Brooks Workman stopped what she was doing and vividly imagined herself opening a soft drink can. She made a special point of picturing herself bringing the can to her mouth and placing her lips on it. Just as she was about to drink, hordes of roaches poured out of the can and scurried into her mouth, writhing, twitching, and wriggling their feelers.

IMAGINE WHY would anyone do that? Not so strange – she was trying to cut down on the number of soft drinks she had each day Behaviour modification – systematic method of changing a way a person acts or feels Behaviour therapy

COGNITIVE THERAPY The goal is to change the way people think Using thoughts to control emotions and behaviour Basic assumption: irrational and uninformed beliefs, expectations, and ways of thinking distort our behaviours, attitudes, and emotions

COGNITIVE THERAPY Three ways to achieve: Disconfirmation – client is confronted with evidence that directly contradicts their existing belief Reconceptualization – clients work toward an alternate believe system to explain their experiences or current observations Insight – client works toward understanding and devising new beliefs

RATIONAL-EMOTIVE THERAPY A form of psychological help aimed at changing unrealistic assumptions about oneself and other people

RATIONAL-EMOTIVE THERAPY Suppose: a man seeks therapy when a woman leaves him. He cannot stand the fact that she has rejected him. Without her, life is empty and miserable. She has made him feel utterly worthless. He must get her back. Like a spoiled child, the man is demanding that the woman love him. He expects, even insists, that things will always go his way. Given this assumption, the only possible explanation for her behaviour is that something is dreadfully wrong, either with him or with her

RATIONAL-EMOTIVE THERAPY The therapist’s view: the man’s thinking is wrong. By defining his feelings for the woman as need rather than desire, he – not she – is causing his depression. Unreasonable attitude Rejection is tough – but not unbearable

A number of techniques are used in RET Role-playing – to see how you beliefs affect other people Modelling – to demonstrate other ways of thinking or acting Humour – to underline the absurdity in some beliefs Persuasion – to see the other side

Homework might be assigned – practice in acting more reasonably Believes that the client needs to take three steps to “cure” or correct himself Realize that some of this assumptions are false See they are making themselves disturbed by acting on false beliefs Work to break the habit of thought and behaviour

BECK’S COGNITIVE THERAPY Focus on illogical thought processes Encourages clients to test their own beliefs after using persuasion and logic

BECK’S COGNITIVE THERAPY Maladaptive Thought Patterns Overgeneralization Definition Example Making blanket judgments about oneself I’m a failure Polarized Thinking Categorizing information Most people don’t like me into two categories Selective Attention Focusing on only one detail of many People always criticize me

BECK’S COGNITIVE THERAPY Beck’s work successful with people who are depressed. Believes they blame themselves instead of the circumstances They focus only on the negative and ignore the positive

BEHAVIOUR THERAPIES Emphasis on one’s behaviour over one’s thoughts Change the behaviour through conditioning techniques Behaviour is learned – can be unlearned Once the behaviour has been corrected – the thoughts will follow

COUNTERCONDITIONING Pairs the stimulus that triggers the unwanted behaviour with a new desirable behaviour Help clients reduce anxiety by pairing relaxation with anxiety-producing situations

COUNTERCONDITIONING Three steps: Person builds an anxiety hierarchy with the least feared situation on the bottom, and most feared on the top Person learns deep muscle relaxation Person imagines or experiences each step in the hierarchy, starting with the least feared, while learning to relax.

COUNTERCONDITIONING Systematic desensitization – technique used in counterconditioning to overcome irrational fears and anxieties Encourage people to imagine the feared situation while relaxing, to extinguish the fear response Small steps

COUNTERCONDITIONING Can also use flooding – if afraid of snakes – gets you to imagine you’re in a room full of snakes – yes – there’s a fear response, but it won’t be there forever. V-R Therapy – to help put you in situations

COUNTERCONDITIONING Aversive conditioning – goal is to make certain acts unpleasant Alcoholics can be given a pill that makes them sick when they ingest it

OPERANT CONDITIONING Based on the assumption that behaviour that is reinforced tends to be repeated Train the old behaviour not to be reinforced, focus on what’s wanted If you do X, you will get Y Used in prisons, mental hospitals, schools, army bases, etc

COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOUR THERAPY (CBT) Combination – focus on setting goals for changing a client’s behaviour and then placing more emphasis on changing a client’s interpretation of his or her situation Helps clients differentiate between serious, real problems and imagined or distorted problems