Cognitive Behavior Therapy

                      
Albert Ellis 1913-2007       Aaron T. Beck 1921-            Judith S. Beck 1954- Donald Meichenbaum 1940-


Cognitive Behavior Therapy

• Founders- Albert Ellis, Aaron T. Beck, Judith S. Beck, and Donald Meichenbaum (Corey, 2012).
• Key concepts- view of human nature, view of emotional disturbance, and A-B-C framework (Corey, 2012).

1. View of human nature- behavior therapy is based the idea that humans are born with both straight and crooked thinking (Corey, 2012). People can be loving, caring, and self-preservation but yet also can be self-destructive, repetitive mistakes, and not caring. 
2. View of emotional disturbance- REBT is the idea that is based that we learn our bad or crooked beliefs from other people in our life during our childhood and continue to re-create these beliefs throughout the rest of our life (Corey, 2012). Humans are constantly reinforcing our self-defeating behavior in which are constantly making same choices and decisions over and over so therefore is shows consistency with our beliefs. Ellis believes that even though everybody wants and desires to be loved that people truly do not need this. There are three basic irrational beliefs that leads to self-defeat 1. I must always have the approval of others or otherwise I am not any good for anything, 2. others must treat me the way I think they should treat me and if they don't then they are not any good and needs punishment, and 3. I must have everything I want when I want it or life is not any good and I can't stand it (Corey, 2012). 
3. A-B-C framework- a=activating event, b=belief, and c=emotional and behavioral consequence (Corey, 2012). The reaction can be healthy or unhealthy for the client (Corey, 2012). A clients belief about A can have a great impact on C. It may not be the actual event that happens to the client that causes the emotional response but may be the clients beliefs about the event that causes all the problem.

• Therapeutic goals- According to Ellis we not only rate ourselves as being good or bad but we rate it as our total self based on our performances (Corey, 2012). These ratings can greatly influence our emotional state that a client is in. It is very important to teach a client in cognitive therapy to separate how they evaluate themselves verses how they except themselves even if they are not perfect. 
• Techniques- rational emotive behavior therapist like to be very integrative in which they start with the disturbing feelings of a client and then start by exploring these feelings with the client (Corey, 2012). Cognitive methods are usually presented to a client in a persuasive manner. A therapist usually teaching them how to deal with reality. A few different cognitive methods include disputing irrational beliefs, doing cognitive homework, bibliotherapy, changing one's language, and psychoeducational methods (Corey, 2012). Disrupting irrational beliefs- it is very important for a therapist to show a client how to do self challenging themselves with irrational beliefs. Doing cognitive homework- it is important for a therapist to have a client make a list of their problems and also list their beliefs and dispute those beliefs. Bibliotherapy- this is usually used as a adjunctive  type of treatment usually because of cost issue. Changing one's language- clients need to learn to replace some of the negative words such as ought with more positive words. Psychoeducational- this is the idea of introducing clients to more educational resources to help them with their problems. A few different emotive techniques include rational emotive imagery, using humor, role playing, and shame-attacking exercises (Corey, 2012). Rational emotive imagery- this is a way to help a client form new emotional patterns by asking the client to imagine the worst thing that had happen to them. Using humor- humor sometimes helps a client put things in life in more perspective and helps bring about change. Role playing- this is when a therapist interrupts to show the client what the client is really telling themselves to create a different way of thinking so the client is thinking unhealthy. Shame-attack exercise-  it is important to help clients develop techniques to reduce their feelings of shame and guilt about their life. Last type of technique usually used is behavioral technique- these that are used in real life situations are the most important. This is usually done by giving clients homework. 

References 

Corey, G. (2012). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (9th edition). Belmont, CA

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