Metacognitive Therapy Summary

According to Seligman and Reichenburg (2014), “cognitive-behavioral therapy is not one approach, but a term applied to a coherent model that is open to and integrates new empirical findings about a pathological disorder into a new model of treatment for that disorder (344)”. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is structured and directive, relying heavily on the cognitive tools of psychoeducation, Socratic questioning, and inductive method. CBT interprets personality development as a process of combining introspectively reflective cognizance with learned response (CBT, 2010). It can occur through the interaction between the thoughts regarding one’s

Generally Metacognition is defined as “how individual monitor and control their cognitive process” (Young & Fry, 2008). Metacognition refers to being able to reflect upon, understand, and control one’s learning. Previous accounts of metacognition have differentiated between two major components, including knowledge about cog¬nition and regulation of cognition (Brown, 1987; Flavell, 1987; Jacobs & Paris, 1987). Knowledge about cognition includes three sub processes that simplify the reflective aspect of metacognition: declarative knowledge (i.e., knowledge about self and about strategies), procedural knowledge (i.e., knowledge about how to use strategies), and conditional knowledge (i.e., knowledge

Cognitive therapy was established in the 1960’s. It is one of the therapeutic approaches included in a group of cognitive behavioral therapies. It was established by Aaron Beck who actually changed the name from cognitive therapy to cognitive behavior therapy not too long ago. The therapy reveals distorted or harmful beliefs by applying techniques to analyze and remodel maladaptive thinking and learning or learning to centralize attention from obsessive thinking, while also integrating numerous techniques to bring about successful behavior change. This paper will provide a review of the theoretical orientation of cognitive therapy along with the personal viewpoint of counseling, change, and cognitive therapy from the author’s perspective. Additionally, an overview of depression is explained and how cognitive therapy can be utilized for treatment for depression.

Many advocates of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) believe that changing the way one thinks can greatly impact one’s emotional response (Shurick et al., 2012). In his 1985 cognitive theory of anxiety Beck asserted, “that maladaptive thought patterns play a central role in the development and maintenance of anxiety” (Beck, Emery, & Greenberg, 1985, p. 12). In his theory Beck proposes that cognitive change is necessary in the treatment of anxiety disorders, and that this can be achieved directly through cognitive restructuring (Nortje & Möller, 2008). In cognitive restructuring the patient and therapist collaborate to alter core beliefs as well as reappraise and reinterpret stimuli in a less negative way in order to reduce negative affect (Shurick

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

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is one of the most prevalent treatments used with clients suffering from MDD, although this is sometimes combined with medication for better treatment results. CBT is derived from Aaron Beck’s cognitive approach to treating depressed individuals, the model suggest that depression develops when individuals develop negative thoughts about themselves, world, and future (Para, 2008). Negative schemas or thought process can occur early in life in the events of stressful life experiences; these thought patterns are then revealed later in life during certain situations. CBT’s goals are to reduce the automatic negative thoughts and actions when experiencing stressful life situations. In CBT clients are taught to examine carefully their thought processes while they are depressed and taught to recognize depressive errors in thinking (Barlow and Durand, 2009). Between sessions clients are instructed to monitor and log their thought

Metacognition is the ability to understand the learning process of not only yourself, but the ones around you. Having this understanding allows you to convey information in a much more effective manner. Understanding the way I learn is important to the way I can approach problems and solutions. These issues and answers develop in many forms. Much like how an artist develops a process of completing a master piece, I can develop the tools to understand and learn in any situation, job, or

It was developed by John Teasdale, Mark Williams, and Zindel Segal. MBCT is a hybrid of traditional cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness, and is built on the idea that people who are depressed tend to have automatic negative thoughts and attach negative judgments to their experiences. The mindfulness aspect of treatment helps individuals become more aware of their automatic thoughts, and to simply observe them as transient events, rather than holding onto them. As individuals become more aware of their automatic thoughts, they develop the capacity to move from a perspective of reaction to reflection. MBCT is in part based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program and echoes much of the theory put forth in Kabat-Zinn’s program. The creators of MBCT developed it with the intention of helping people who have suffered from repeated bouts of depression. The MBCT program is taught over the course of an eight-week program, where participants are encouraged to use guided meditations to help them cultivate a more mindful way of

The philosophy of cognitive behavioral therapy is that “think and feeling are connected people are creative (Halbur & Halbur, 2015, p.47)”. The key aspects of theory are to challenge the irrational beliefs that we hold about ourselves. Aaron Beck the primary founder of cognitive behavior theory assumed that people can control how they feel and what they think. He believed that our inner thoughts and beliefs affected how we are affected on the outside. One of the key concepts is that the client’s dysfunctional thinking can be derived from an erroneous internal process or bias.

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).

The behavioral involvements aim to decrease maladaptive behaviors and increase adaptive ones, and cognitive interventions object to alter maladaptive thoughts, self-statements, or beliefs (Craske, 2017). The CBT approach consists of specific learning experiences to teach the patient the following operations- (1) to oversee any negative thoughts; (2) to recognize the connections between cognitions, affect, and behavior; (3) to observe the evidence for and against any partial cognitions (4) to alternate more reality-oriented explanations for these biased cognitions; and (5) to learn to identify and stop thoughts that may distort certain experiences (Beck,

This therapy begins by teaching the patients to notice any dysfunctional thoughts and inaccuracies in their ways of thinking, then the therapist encourages their patients to think rationally, leading to the encouragement of their patients to reconsider their current beliefs about themselves, the trauma, and the world. The earlier sessions’ main focuses are to help the patients recognize what they have thought and to calculate those thoughts by probabilistic reasoning, Socratic questioning, and to have the patients provide pros and cons of those thoughts. In later sessions, patients were able to identify, evaluate, and change inaccurate beliefs about the trauma, self, world, and future (Marks et al., 1998). They ended the sessions with a new, positive way of thinking. The only downfall of cognitive restructuring is that its treatment is spread out over a period of

Before Dr. Aaron T. Beck developed the idea of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the world of psychoanalysis was concerned with “invisible psychic forces” (Smith, 2009) that to him, a young graduate of medical school “seemed soft-minded and esoteric, more a faith than a medical discipline” (Smith, 2009). This mystical ability to find a seemingly sound analysis for every condition was alluring to Beck. As he evolved as a practitioner however, he sought empirical evidence to support these evaluations. This search led him to the development of CBT and to push for psychotherapy techniques that could be evaluated based on their ability to make measurable, practical differences in the lives of patients. The development of CBT opened the field of psychoanalysis to empirically supported methods and a more rigorous approach to treating patients.

Over the course of my career I have been trained in interventions from various theoretical orientations, with particular emphasis on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I always find myself gravitating to the structure of CBT, which in order to be effective, requires collaboration between the provider and patient to identify maladaptive patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors within the context of the individual’s environment. The CBT approach has a wide array of carefully constructed exercises, in addition to various protocols, to help clients evaluate and change their thoughts and behaviors.

Imagine this sceneario, a 24-year old woman begins her first week of therapy with a psychologist. She explains moments of hypervigilance, irritability, difficulty sleeping and concentrating, dissociation, and moments of memory loss. Within the following weeks the psychologist diagnoses this patient with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As she completes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with the combination of psychoanalysis, childhood sexual abuse is identified. However, as the client digs deeper into the trauma, she begins to suffer from symptoms of memory loss in accordance with the trauma.