Healthy thoughts and cognitions lead to normal behaviour whereas faulty thoughts and cognitions lead to abnormal behaviour.
Irrational Thinking - Ellis
- Assumes emotional problems can be attributed to distortions in thinking process.
- Distortions take the form of maladaptive thoughts.
- Polarised thinking: Seeing everything in black and white.
- Magnification and minimisation: person may magnify failure and minimise success.
- ABC MODEL:
A - Negative event
B - Rational belief
C - Healthy negative emotion
OR
A - Negative event
B - Irrational belief
C - Unhealthy negative emotion
The cognitive triad and errors in logic - Beck
- Negative thoughts underlie mental disorders.
- Depressed people draw illogical conclusions when evaluating themselves (overgeneralisation).
- Negative thoughts can lead to negative feelings.
Evaluation
+ Gustafan found that maladaptive thinking processes were displayed by many people with anxiety, depression and sexual disorders.
+ Individual responsibility.
+ Emphasises important role of cognitive factors.
- Doesn't examine the origins of disorder.
- Cognitive processes may be a consequence rather than a cause.
- Everyone should be self-sufficient.
- No sympathy.
- Not clear how irrational thoughts should be measured.
- Ignores biological factors.
Treatments
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- CBT changes patterns of thoughts and behaviours that are causing the problem.
- Increasingly more popular.
Evaluation
+ Not threatening.
+ Empowers clients with self-help.
+ At least as effective as drugs.
+ Collaborative
+ Avoids in-depth probing.
+ Less time consuming and more cost effective.
+ Brings together different factors.
- Ignores biological factors.
- Schizophrenia not suited to CBT.
- Doesn't address underlying causes.
- Clients become dependent on therapist.
- Self monitoring may be too difficult
The three forms of CBT include:
• Becks' cognitive therapy
• Ellis- rational emotive behavioural therapy
• Meichenbaum's stress inoculation therapy
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