Cognitive Group Therapy Essay

of the therapy, the client meets the therapist to describe specific problems and to set goals they

Cognitive behavioral therapy differs in several respects from more traditional forms of therapy. It focuses on two specific elements: cognitive restructuring and behavioral activation. The client and therapist work together in cognitive restructuring with the goal to restructure thinking patterns. In behavioral activation, the client overcomes barriers to participating in activities. The main focus is on the present and on specific problems. cognitive behavioral therapy is a goal oriented and educational therapy, because goals for both the short and longer term are identified and it teaches the client to modify mood en behavior. The client has therefore an active role in learning e.g. coping skills. Multiple strategies are used in cognitive behavioral therapy, like imagenary, role

At one point in a person life, they will participated in a group whether it is part of a specific committee, therapy, or social group. In recent years, there has been a rise in counseling within a group forum veering from the tradition individual counseling. Therapists, physiologist, and counselors believe that form of counseling is beneficial to both counselor and client. This allows the counselor to help several clients at once rather than one at a time decreasing their strenuous workload and demanding work hours. This form of counseling integrate individual that share similar issues, struggles, and experiences into one forum. This not only allows the clients to learn from the therapist but from their fellow group members. The group experience

The dynamics of the client-therapist relationship in cognitive therapy is a collaborative effort. Cognitive therapists elicit patient’s goals at the beginning of treatment. They explain their treatment plan and interventions to help patients understand how they will be able to reach their goals and feel better. At every session, they elicit and help patients solve problems that are of greatest distress. They do so through a structure that seeks to maximize efficiency, learning, and therapeutic change (Robert & Watkins, 2009). Important parts of each session include checking the client’s mood, a connection between sessions, setting an agenda, discussing specific problems and teaching skills in the context of solving these problems, setting of self-help assignments, summary, and feedback (Robert & Watkins, 2009). The status that CBT has with insurers and funding agencies is a result of concrete and measurable goals, goal-focused processes and clear outcomes-based evaluations/results. Therapy is typically conducted in an outpatient setting by trained therapist in cognitive behavioral techniques. Treatment is relatively short in comparison to some other forms of psychotherapy, usually lasting no longer than 16 weeks.

Cognitive therapy, now called cognitive behavioral therapy was developed by Aaron Beck. Beck believed that dysfunctional thought processes and beliefs are responsible for an individual’s behaviors and feelings. He also believed that individuals’ have the ability identify these distorted thoughts and change them to more realistic thinking in order to relieve their psychological discomfort. This type of therapy is designed to be a short-term, straight-forward and structured approach to counseling in which counselors and clients work together. I strongly identify with cognitive behavioral therapy because I believe all behaviors are a result of incorrect thoughts and beliefs. Irrational and negative thinking can influence an individual’s ability to cope and deal with any difficulties they may be experiencing. I also like cognitive behavioral therapy because it briefly includes a client’s historical background in its approach to counseling. I feel that counselors should include a client’s past experiences when trying to understand at what point the client’s incorrect assumptions developed. I believe that everybody in this world always has a choice on how they handle and behave in their given situation and circumstances. In cognitive behavioral therapy, once the counselor and client have identified the irrational thoughts and evaluated whether there is any evidence to its validity, the client has the ability to choose whether or not they desire to change their distorted ways of

The topic chosen for this particular group therapy was self-care amongst college students. I chose this particular population due to the fact that I am in college and understand the importance of taking care of one’s self. As a college student certain times in the semester can be overwhelming causing students to stress frantically. Handling responsibilities such as internships, deadlines, homework, and final projects can become tiresome for a student. With such a high demand work schedule, students forget about the importance of keeping up their self-care. As a result, students are left feeling physically, emotionally, and mentally drained. Moreover, the most appropriate type of group would be an educational group. An educational group works with individuals in a group session by teaching a set of specific skills and techniques that can be utilized in a person’s life. As the educational facilitator of this group, I was able to educate the members in my session with specific tactics that can be applied in their college career. In brief, the three most important tactics to promote self-care are, managing stress, socializing, and maintaining an adequate diet.

The practice that assist a therapist in determining a client diagnosis and the proper treatment plan that would resolve the issue surrounding the clinet’s diagnosis is Case Conceptualization and Treatment Planning. The clinet’s treatment plan must be appropriate and relational and this will alow any type of medication and adaptions to be adjusted if needed so that modifications and adaptations can be adjusted as needed (Altman, Briggs, Frankel, Gensler, and Pantone, 2002). The ultimate goal of case conceptualization and treatment planning is to discover complete findings in relation to the client. One approach is Existential Therapy. The human

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a short-term, empirically valid amalgamation of facets from cognitive and behavior therapies. Cognitive-behaviorists believe that psychological problems stem from maladaptivity in both thought and behavior patterns, whether self-taught or learned from others. Therefore, changes have to take place in both thoughts and actions. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is structured as collaboration between client and therapist, focusing on the present. A prominent aspect of CBT is the client’s duty to be an active participant in the therapeutic process (Corey, 2013).

In it's simplest form, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, (or CBT as it will be referred to from here on out), refers to the approach of changing dysfunctional behaviors and thoughts to realistic and healthy ones. CBT encompasses several types of therapy focusing on the impact of an individual's thinking as it relates to expressed behaviors. Such models include rational emotive therapy (RET), rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), behavior therapy (BT), Rational Behavior Therapy (RBT), Schema Focused Therapy, Cognitive therapy (CT). Most recently a few other variations have been linked to CBT such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectic behavioral therapy (DBT), and

The key concepts of a cognitive behavioral approach have been broken down into a four-stage process. According to Corey (2016), “the specific unique characteristics of behavior therapy include conducting a behavioral assessment, precisely spelling out collaborative treatment goals, formulating a specific treatment procedure appropriate to a particular problem, and objectively evaluating the outcomes of therapy” (p. 349). The behavioral assessment is aimed at gathering as much detailed information about the client’s problem. This part of the process will also focus on the client’s current functioning and life conditions and taking samples of his or her behaviors to provide information about how the client typically functions in various situations. Lastly, the behavioral assessment is narrowly focused and integrated with therapy.

Arlington’s second goal was identified as “client will experience fewer cognitive distortions”. The first objective identified for goal two is “client will develop positive self-talk”. The second objective was identified as “client will exhibit increased self-awareness regarding cognitive distortions”. In addition to objectives, action steps were also identified in order to help Ms. Arlington accomplish her goal. The first action step identified under goal two and objective one is “clinician will aid the client in identifying positive affirmations”. The second action step identified under goal two objective one is “clinician will practice reciting positive affirmations with client and instruct her to recite them three times a day”. Finally, the first action step identified under goal two and objective two is “clinician will help client to maintain a thought record” and the second objective under goal two and objective two is “clinician will engage in mind and body relaxation techniques with

Cognitive rehearsal. The patient is asked to imagine a difficult situation he or she has encountered in the past, and then works with the therapist to practice how to successfully cope with the problem. When the patient is confronted with a similar situation again, the rehearsed behavior will be drawn on to deal with it.

Developed by Aaron Beck, cognitive therapy implements methods of testing the validity of maladaptive beliefs to treat patients (Spiegler, 2010). In other words, cognitive therapy regards irrational thoughts as testable hypotheses that can be proven right or wrong empirically. Cognitive therapy views irrational thoughts as automatic and caused by systematic reasoning errors. Originally developed to treat depression, cognitive therapy is not used to treat a variety of psychological disorders. The primary goals of cognitive therapy are typically to align problematic processing of information, change beliefs that cause irrational beliefs, as well as to educate patients on how to think and act rationally. Cognitive interventions are used in cognitive therapy to directly alter the cognitions of patients by implementing several types of interventions. One method relies on the therapist to give the patient necessary information to identify irrational thoughts and beliefs as irrational. Another method requires the patient to record details related to moments when automatic thoughts occur. For instance, when an irrational thought occurs patients should document their setting, emotions, the content of the irrational thought, and the rational correction of the thought. Generating alternative interpretations is another tool used in cognitive therapy. Being able to come up with opposing

Stacie, I enjoyed your post very much, because you spoke about the importance the group leader has on the therapeutic process. I agree 100% that the characteristics of the trained professional can impact the therapy process. For example, you mentioned in your post that it is critical for the trained professional to be sensitive and supportive and I do believe that this can have a direct result in the progress of the individual recovery. The same principle applies to everyone in the group to offer sensitivity and support. When others speak about their raw experiences with authenticity it can speak volumes. In a formal group setting because the trained professional is considered the teacher or coach, there can be that separation of relating

The therapist should have some signs of the advancement of the therapy when the client allows them in the portal of trust. If the client is trusting the therapist, a more relaxing atmosphere will help the client to open the doors to self-reflection. Then the therapist can proceed with their role is helping the client to determine what are good options, but also to help the client to challenge the part of the behavior disorder that is keeping them from fully engaging in life. The therapist will try to provide the client with alternatives and different option. Introducing them to new coping strategies, and sharing ideas for an opportunity to make their life more meaningful. The plan is to help heal the bad experiences which brought on the