Psychoanalysis And Cognitive Therapy

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.

When cognitive therapy is used, the individual may live a more satisfying life when acknowledging how these essential techniques bring all the principals of cognition together for new beliefs and to understand the cognitive therapy process. The counselor carefully listens and collaborates with the client to implement a plan of action. During these techniques, the client may experience Socratic questioning, education about the cognitive model, identifying and challenging of automatic thoughts and images, identifying and challenging of cognitive distortions, identifying intermediate beliefs, identifying and challenging core beliefs, and doing homework assignments to build a strong alliance for the client to live a more satisfying life. (Neukrug, 2011).

Being grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy has led the author to study and read works from Dr. Albert Ellis and Dr. Arnold Goldstein. Although these individuals are very different, they are also alike in many ways and lead this author to her theoretical orientation. Dr. Ellis emphasizes

Some psychologists believe that cognitive behavioral therapy is rather manipulative, especially when compared to the client-centered model. However, this may be rather a surface judgement. Cognitive behavioral therapy has two components to it: cognitive therapies and behavioral therapies. Cognitive therapy is about how clients interpret the world around them, the environment and situations with which they are faced, and how these cognitive interpretations shape their emotional states and responses. Essentially, cognitive therapy focuses on thinking. It analyzes how, and why, the client thinks a certain way, and aims at changing these patterns to form positive, nurturing, emotional states that can replace the current state of disharmony that the client is facing. Behavioral therapy is, in a way, the next stage. It focuses on actions rather than thoughts, and equips the therapist with effective tools to form new behavioral patterns for a client by stimulating certain positive “rewards” (emotional, such as praise and encouragement), for the positive changes in behavior that the client demonstrates when encountering a certain

When these psychotherapies are compared, only a few stand out which have really proven effective. One of the most effective short-term therapies in our time has been Cognitive Therapy. Psychiatrist Dr. Aaron T. Beck pioneered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) back in the 1960’s amongst other ground breaking therapists such as Albert Ellis. Dr. Beck originally studied and practiced psychoanalysis and later discovered that CBT had more impact in treating some of the more common mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. This short-term psychotherapy focuses on current problems in the here and now aiming to change unhelpful or negative thinking and behaviours (Westbrook, Kennerley, & Kirk, 2011).

PTSD is an actual medical condition, thus it requires treatment to aid with the mental disease. Psychotherapy is the most advantageously treatment for kids with PTSD. There are different types of psychotherapy: cognitive therapy and exposure therapy. Cognitive therapy is a way to reduce the symptoms of PTSD. “Identifying false or unhelpful trauma-related thoughts, then evaluating the evidence for and against them so the patient learns to consider whether these problematic thoughts are the result of cognitive bias or error and develop more realistic and/or useful thoughts” (Vinci 2015). The therapist will help you organize your thoughts on the trauma and figure out why you feel the way you do. After a trauma, the patient usually has bias thoughts

including day dreams as well as their reactions to the environment around them. When looking at schemas in relation to psychopathology there are patterns of distorted or faulty thinking that the individual engages in (Beck, 1970). Lastly, cognitive errors focus on the faulty thinking that patients have developed due to the way that they experience the world around them. Cognitive therapy aims to shift this pattern of thinking teaching the patient how to reframe their thoughts to a more rational thought pattern. While this book was written specifically for work with depressed patients, Beck begins to notice within his practice that this therapy technique could be adapted to treat other disorders specifically anxiety and anger. Throughout the 1970s Beck adapts his theory to patients experiencing other mental health problems and finds similar success. Beck’s continued work in Cognitive Therapy led to growing recognition within the psychology field and became one of the three leading cognitive therapy approaches during that time (Dryden, 1996). Over time, Cognitive Therapy has continued to undergo adaptations due to the ever changing field of psychology. Currently, Cognitive Therapy is used interchangeably with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

According to the dictionary “Psychoanalysis is a systematic structure of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological processes.” (Freudfile.org, 2017). Psychoanalysis is used and described in many forms through sociology, literature, religion, mythology, and many more inciting public interest even though people do not always understand it. Therefore psychoanalysis is also often introduced through media such as TV, radio, and film scripts. Movies depicted an interest to the understanding of psychoanalysis; the most distinct one was a movie dedicated to Sigmund Freud which presented the uncertain years of his beginning in psychoanalysis. A proper definition of psychoanalysis is

According to Corsini and Wedding (2013), cognitive therapy aims at adjusting information and initiate positive change in all systems by acting through the cognitive systems. From my perspective, what is very appealing about cognitive therapy is that the therapist can challenge their client 's viewpoints and rational. Furthermore, cognitive therapy allows people to perceive the world and shape behavior based on their thoughts and feelings. According to Frances, Miller, and Mack (2005), cognitive therapy is used to treat addiction, personality disorders, depression, anxiety, and compulsive disorders such as gambling, shopping, and sexual behaviors. Moreover, cognitive therapists assess the development of their patient’s beliefs about themselves, their early life experiences, exposure to stressful circumstances, and the overall development of their beliefs (Frances et al., 2005).

The basics of the psychological approach to literature is built upon Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychology. Freud employed the idea that the unconscious mind ultimately governs a person’s behaviors. This gives rise to three parts of the mind that strive for dominance, including the id, superego, and the ego; the id being the instinctual trends, the superego plays the critical and moralizing role, and the ego mediates between the two. In attempt to treat behavioral disorders in Viennese patients, Freud used psychoanalysis. According to his book An Outline of Psychoanalysis, he believed this method of treatment would, “cure patients by returning the damaged ego to its normal state”

This week we started our section on Freud and his many findings in the area of psychoanalytical theory and psychoanalysis. One of the mentioned psychological experiences that I can most relate to is one that is referred to as catharsis. By definition, catharsis means to release and free emotions by talking about ones problems (Cervone & Pervin 2013). However, catharsis can come in many forms. If you recall, Michelle Knight, was one of three women who was kidnapped by Ariel Castro between 2002 and 2003. At the time of her kidnapping, Michelle was 21 years old and was held captive for 11 years before being found. During her time in captivity, Ariel Castro raped her, beat her and mentally and psychologically abused her. She became pregnant on five different occasions because of Castro and subsequently had five separate miscarriages due to Castro beating her. While being held captive she recounts that she was “…Constantly taunted by Castro about her looks and how nobody wanted or was looking for her.” (Hattenstone 2014) Having been told that every day for 11 years would weigh heavily on anyone’s mental state but these women overcame that.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, a more modern model of therapy that focuses on evidence based results, can be compared to the mindset of many practicing millennials today; yet, there is still something for this generation of practitioners to hold on to from the founding father of the more in-depth and personal, psychoanalytic therapy. Therefore, this essay will serve the purpose of comparing and contrasting the two therapies, cognitive and psychoanalytic, and analyzing their functionality today.

Aaron T. Beck, who is known as Tim to his friends, was born in 1921, in Rhode Island, USA. He is the youngest of four siblings.

     Psychoanalysis had its beginning with the discovery that a person in complete physical health could experience an illness with physical symptoms that stemmed from things trapped in the subconscious known as hysteria. Charcot, a French neurologist tried to liberate the mind through hypnosis. A Viennese physician, Josef Breuer, carried this purging further with a process based on his patient, Anna O., revealing her thoughts and feelings to him. Sigmund Freud took Breuer’s method and made generalizations that grew into conceptualizations and eventually into the theories of psychoanalysis. Freud would listen to his patients, and then use these thoughts to interpret what was happening in the unconscious part of

Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud to make the unconscious conscious. His aim was to gain insight into the unconscious and repressed thoughts, feelings and motivations of people in order to help them understand. Freud focused on bringing the repressed internal conflict (such as development issues or trauma) to a conscious place where the person can easily deal with it. Art is one way in which the individual can express his deepest thoughts by unravelling one’s inner feelings, making them visible and vulnerable. When a work of art is created by an artist it reflects his/her beliefs and morale which in turn helps us understand and interpret it more clearly.