Contrast and Compare Cbt and Existential Therapy Essay

Existential therapy would focus on each person as a unique individual as well as their decisions that have shaped their lives. Responsibility would be patient to would take responsibility for their decisions to create the present and future they desired. The existentialists’ is more attentive to internal details that will help the client to find philosophical meaning despite bouts of anxiety, opt to reason and act genuinely and mindfully despite life’s four guarantees, or “givens” of freedom (of choice), isolation, meaninglessness and, ultimately death. (Yalom, 1980). Only through authentic living, free will, and accepting responsibility will humanity be able to draw motivation from these existential conditions. Assuming the belief that people's problems come not exercising to the full extent one’s judgment or free will--or well enough--to forge meaning in their lives and that each of us has the responsibility for making meaning out of life. Outside forces, however, may underwrite "the individual's limited ability to exercise choice and live a meaningful life. "

Nothing brings relief from the existential torture.” (Depression, 1997). Everyone is subject to sadness or melancholy moods especially after tragic events such as death, dissolution of a personal relationship, or economic hardship; these feelings are normal. It is a prolonged sense of these feeling and being unable to process past them that a more serious form of depression has taken hold. The damage caused by the emotional and mental effects of depression can be far reaching from hurting and pushing away friends and family, destroying careers, and can even result in death by suicide.(Depression, 1997).

Existentialism developed from a number of schools of psychology and psychiatry, as an attempt to assist clients’ attempts to resolve difficulties

This essay will review the literature on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy was developed by Aaron Beck in the early 1960s and originally it was defined as cognitive therapy (CT). According to Beck (1967, 1976) cognitive therapy is a time restricted but structured approach, which is used effectively in treatment of many different mental illnesses. Despite the fact that the literature covers this therapy in a variety of contexts, this paper will mainly focus on applying CBT to depression. Depression can be described as a type of afflicted psychological well being, where the individual lacks confidence in their own worth (DH, 2004). Overall, this paper will review literature which is of

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) grew out of dissatisfaction of certain therapists with traditional psychoanalysis. Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis were both instrumental in the development of this approach to psychotherapy (Van Bilsen, p. 7), though Beck, a psychoanalyst, is primarily credited with its development. Beck did research on depression, in the 1950’s, which was intended to give evidence in support of the theory that retroflected hostility was at the root of depression, but the research failed to confirm his hypothesis. As a result, he expanded his research on depression and came to the realization that depressed subjects held predictably negative thoughts about themselves, the future and the world around

What is Existential therapy? Existential therapy is a philosophical approach to therapy that focuses on the meaning of our existence and the basic premise that we are what we choose to be. It is an approach that focuses on inner conflict within a person based on the four givens (death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness). The existential tradition seeks an overall balance between limited dimensions and one’s opportunities in life. The limitations are the four givens and the possibilities are your creation of your own life. The current focus of the existential approach is on the individual’s experience of being in the world alone and facing the anxiety of this isolation, as stated in our textbook (Corey, 2016).

In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy the correlation of patients feelings and figures of thinking are linked to their feeling of distress. The patient is instructed and encouraged to participate by adapting the following approach ( Jones, Hacker, Cormac et al.,2012). a. Investigating the accustomed or habitual way of thinking b. Examining the results of such upsetting way of thinking The objective of Cognitive behavioral therapy is to change the interpretations that patients have in relation to traumatic personal experiences or dysfunctional behavior.

CBT is a relatively young model and theory. What we know as CBT, began in the 1950's with Albert Ellis's Rational Emotive Behavioral approach to therapy (Dobson, 2001). Later in the 1960's, Aaron Beck began using Cognitive Therapy in treating depression. (Barlow, 2001. 230) The origins of what we now know as cognitive behavioral theory is said to come from earlier theories and concepts. Credit can be given to early philosophers such as Kant (1782), theorists such as Alfred Adler (Individual Psychology), and behaviorists such as Joseph Wolpe and George Kelly . Frued can also be mentioned, albeit indirectly, for his theory was quite distressing to Adler who stated, “I am convinced that a person's behaviors springs from his ideas.” (pg 306. Milkman and Sunderwirth, 2010). Pavlov and Skinner can also be acknowledged, for their work in learned behavior and conditioning, which directly correlates to the concepts of cognitive behavioral therapy. More recently, A.

CBT was first described by Professor Aaron Beck in the early 1950’s (Wilding & Milne, 2008). In contrast with many of the psychological therapy models of the time, CBT was based on the belief that maladaptive thoughts and behaviours arise not from what has happened in our lives, but from how we think about what has happened to us (Taylor, 2006; Newman, 2013). A variety of approaches are considered to fall within the domain of CBT – these include Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (Dryden, 2009), Beck’s CBT approach, and Meichenbaum’s Cognitive Behaviour Modification (Meichenbaum, 1977) These approaches share 3

Theories within psychotherapy guide interactions between the therapist and client, providing a process by which the client can come to understand and resolve their problems. However, these theories can often be conflicting with opposing techniques and goals. Existential therapy is best considered as a philosophical approach to the therapeutic process, which gives prominences to the themes of freedom, self-determination, self-awareness and anxiety (Yalom & Josselson, 2011, p. 310). It emphasises the individual’s capacity to make free choices regarding the person they become, and focuses less on the use of techniques. In contrast, Freudian psychoanalytic therapy considers ways to change problematic behaviours or thoughts by examining their concealed unconscious motivations and meanings (Corey, 2013, p. 63). Past experiences are significant in determining the distinctive behaviour of the individual, which is analysed by the therapist through techniques such as dream analysis and free association. Whilst both theories view the individual and their difficulties as unique, existential and psychoanalytic therapy have opposing views of human nature and therapeutic goals.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was created by Aaron Beck, a professor in psychiatry in the 1960’s (Beck, 2011). Initially, Beck sought out to prove the psychoanalytic idea that depression stemmed from anger towards oneself (Beck, 2011). However, during his research he found that misleading thoughts and beliefs were the reasoning behind depression. Beck theorized that one’s current feelings about something are derived from an initial encounter that gave meaning to that specific event. So, negative feelings about a particular occurrence can be a result of misinformation (Beck & Greenberg, 1984).

CBT is a structured psychological treatment which identifies that cognition, emotion and behaviour all interact together. Therefore, it can be said that our thoughts determine our feelings and our response. A negative impact of the actions taken by someone when that person suffers from psychological distress caused by how skewed they interpret situations. CBT involves working with a therapist to distinguish thought and behavioural patterns that are either making a client more likely to become depressed, or stopping a client from getting better when experiencing depression. The purpose of CBT is to increase the client’s awareness when negative interpretations are made and when behavioural patterns reinforce distorted thinking. Cognitive therapy helps people to develop alternative ways of thinking and behaving which aim to reduce their psychological

Existential therapists for example, put more emphasis on the existence, than on the essence through the phenomenological reduction, because they do not wish to suspend existence. Carl Rogers‘s (1902-1987) concept of phenomenology maintains that knowledge of individual perceptions of reality is required for the understanding of the human behaviour, and suggests that we live in accordance with our subjective awareness (Nye, 1992:97).

Existential theory is only one of many different theories in psychology. This paper will work to help give the reader a better understanding of what Existential theory is, what the common factor accountability is and how the common factor accountability works within the existential theory to help a client and/or therapist gain a better understanding of the choices, thoughts, or behaviors that helped get a client into the position they are in and how holding themselves accountable to their actions, behaviors or thoughts can help them reach healthy attainable goals in their life. In this paper the reader will gain a better understanding about how existential theory looks at the whole person and how they reached the point where they needed to seek assistance in understanding themselves and how they can hold them self and how others can hold them accountable for their actions, thought, and behaviors.