NEED TO KNOW COGNITIVE BEH EB

Carolyn Boyes

• Publisher: Collins
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780007270347
• eBook ISBN: 9780007570010
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Psychology

Think better. Be happier.

Is your style of thinking affecting your feelings? Could you make some basic changes and improve your self-esteem, motivation, and happiness?

CBT is already a medically approved method of treating depression, and is now growing in popularity as a self-help mechanism.

Need to Know? Cognitive Behavioural Therapy will enable you to assess your own thought patterns, and will show you how to modify your thinking so that you respond better to whatever life throws at you.

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1 The basics of CBT

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is used to treat emotional and behavioural problems, from depression to anxiety or addictions. In this chapter you will learn about the basic principles of CBT – what it is and why it could be effective as a therapeutic tool for you.

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The basics of CBT

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that combines behaviour modification and cognitive therapy. It focuses on cognition (belief), emotion (feeling) and behaviour (action).

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The meaning of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

• The ‘cognitive’ in cognitive behavioural therapy refers to our thoughts and beliefs.

• The ‘behavioural’ refers to behavioural modification. Behavioural therapy focuses on the relationship between our problems, our behaviour and our thoughts.

• The ‘therapy’ describes the structured approach used with a sufferer to overcome a disorder.

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Why use CBT?

CBT highlights how your irrational thoughts (beliefs and assumptions) determine your feelings and affect your choices of your actions and behaviour. The focus of the therapy is to eliminate disorders such as depression, anxiety or phobias. It aims to change your thinking and feeling patterns to allow in more helpful thoughts, which in turn will produce more helpful feelings and new behaviours.

CBT is a rational process comprising a set of useful psychological and emotional tools which are available whenever needed. You can then look at your goals, the kind of life you want and where you are now in relation to this ideal.

As a therapy, CBT demystifies a person’s actions and reactions to uncover reasons why they might experience negative thoughts, anxiety, depression or fear, then to challenge and eventually change them.

Several studies of psychotherapeutic methods point to CBT as one of the most effective therapies for treating depression and anxiety. In fact, research shows that CBT appears to be more successful than antidepressive medication in treating certain types of depression.

In 2003, NICE – the UK Government body advising on how best to treat different illnesses and disorders – recommended that CBT be used as either the first-line or an additional treatment for anxiety, depression, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia.

What’s more, you can learn to use CBT yourself without a therapist present to combat unwanted automatic thoughts, feelings and behaviour.

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What can CBT treat?

CBT can be used to treat a wide range of disorders and unwanted feelings. These include:

• Stress and tension

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Anger

• Sleeping problems

• Guilt

• Chronic fatigue syndrome

• Mood swings

• Facial tics

• Childhood problems

• Relationship break-up

• Phobias including agoraphobia and social phobia

• Schizophrenia

• Panic disorders

• Post-traumatic stress

• Obsessive compulsive disorder

• Bulimia

• Chronic non-malignant pain.

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The history of CBT

The foundations of CBT go back to the early part of the 20th century. Based on the work of Pavlov and other Russian researchers, it was discovered that emotional responses such as anxiety or fear can be conditioned. In Pavlov’s famous experiments dogs were given food when a bell was rung. After a number of repetitions, the dogs started to salivate in response to the bell – they had been conditioned to respond to an external stimulus.

This is known as ‘classical conditioning’ and the Russian researchers used it as the basis for further research. They found out that if animals were given an electric shock at the same time as being shown a red light, they would eventually respond to the red light alone with fear and an increase in heart rate. The red light would have become a ‘conditioned fear stimulus’.

Conditioning and behaviour

Later another principle of conditioning known as ‘the law of effect’ was developed. Three researchers in the USA – Thorndike, Tolman and Guthrie – discovered that if a particular behaviour was consistently rewarded it was likely to reoccur.

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Self-talk

Automatic thoughts or self-talk are thoughts laden with negative emotions and are often unconscious.

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This principle was then extended to show that any behaviour could be reinforced: ‘positive reinforcement’ happens when a behaviour occurs frequently, or more strongly, because it is reinforced by positive consequences; for example, praise or another reward. ‘Negative reinforcement’ happens when behaviour happens frequently because it is followed by the lack of anticipated negative consequences – for example, not being told off. These principles were fundamental to behavioural therapy, which became accepted in the second half of the 20th century as a useful therapy for disorders such as phobias and obsessions.

The 1960s and Aaron Beck

The breakthrough for CBT came in the 1960s. Aaron Beck, an American psychiatrist and psychotherapist, observed that there was a link between the self-talk of his patients and their feelings. He described the negative internal dialogue running in his patients’ minds as ‘automatic thoughts’, a term used interchangeably with ‘hot thoughts’, to describe thoughts laden with negative emotions.

He discovered that his patients were not always aware of these hot thoughts or of their effect on their feelings. However, if a patient learned to identify these emotion-linked thoughts they could learn to overcome their problems.

Cognitive Therapy

Beck’s methods became known as cognitive therapy – ‘cognitive’ referring to the important role played by thoughts and beliefs in producing unpleasant feelings. It has since evolved into cognitive behavioural therapy as it has become recognized that behavioural techniques can also help the therapeutic process.

Another important influence on modern CBT is Dr Albert Ellis (see page).

How CBT works

Beck’s theory at the heart of CBT is that:

It is not a particular situation or event that directly causes us problem feelings but the meaning we attach to this situation – our ‘self-talk’.

This self-talk or meaning we attribute to events originates in childhood experiences. Over time we set up rigid thinking patterns which trigger automatic reactions to situations. These patterns are unconscious and because they become rigid may be resistant to change without deliberate and effective analysis and challenge. The meaning we attach to events can also be called a ‘core belief’ or ‘rules for living’.

Our thoughts and beliefs may work well for us in some situations, while in others they may cause us negative reactions. As rational emotive therapist Dr Maxie Mautsby put it: ‘Words are to humans as the bell was to Pavlov’s dog.’ What we say to ourselves, ‘our self-talk’, is all important.

Basic premise of CBT

Our thoughts produce our feelings.

The model of how this works is sometimes referred to as the ‘hot cross bun’ model. It assumes that when we have a negative reaction to a situation it is because the meaning we have attached to it causes an automatic conditioned response.

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Problem feelings

Our problem feelings are not caused directly by a situation or event, but instead by the meaning that we attach to this situation – our self-talk.

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Meaning is subjective

There is no such thing as a negative or positive situation or event. Your reactions are caused by the meanings you have unconsciously or consciously attached to the event.

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What you think about a situation triggers certain feelings (including unwanted physical sensations).

Your feelings lead to actions, i.e. your behaviour (wanted or unwanted).

Types of problems

According to Dr Albert Ellis, who developed Rational Emotive Therapy (a form of CBT), there are two main types of problem.

1. Practical probl...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. The basics of CBT
• 2. Identifying faulty thinking
• 3. The foundation of change
• 4. Setting goals
• 5. Changing thoughts and feelings
• 6. Overcoming resistance to change
• 7. Anger
• 8. Anxiety
• 9. Depression
• 10. Stress and tension
• 11. Self-esteem
• Useful organizations
• Further reading
• Free online CBT resources
• Index
• Keep Reading
• Copyright
• About the Publisher