A councillor can work with an individual, family group using this method to replace and intervene thoughts and to alter beliefs. This technique can be used to tackle many problems including anxiety, expression, phobias, drug or alcohol problems, relationships etc. At the end of the initial session an agenda will be drawn up for the following sessions, this approach is very structured and limited usually to about 16 sessions. In these sessions the client and councillor will discuss intervention techniques, homework is always given between sessions usually to put these into practice and behavioural exercises or reading, this is a very important part of cognitive behavioural therapy. Clients are expected to complete the homework tasks and then feedback to the councillor and discuss the effects in order to continue and go forward with the therapy.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy combines cognitive therapy (changing the way we think) and behavioural therapy (how we behave to these thoughts). The counsellor will work with the client to identify their behaviour pattern, the problems underlying thinking, develop new more realistic helpful beliefs, plan and execute specific behaviour change and help the client recognise changes in their mood.
A key step in cognitive therapy is helping the individual to identify the negative automatic thoughts that are intimately connected with feelings of depression and anxiety, these may be identified in the clinical sessions themselves, for example, by asking the individual to role-play a difficult encounter, or they can be identified in between sessions by asking the individual to keep a diary of such thoughts in the situations in which they arise. Once identified, the individual is then encouraged to test their validity, to question them, and to check the evidence, for and against. The identification and challenging of negative thoughts leads into the final phase of cognitive therapy which is challenging the dysfunctional schemata that underlie the negative thoughts.
A development of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is Rational Emotive Therapy (beck and Ellis), or more recently Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy. Although both therapists emphasized slightly different aspects of their work, both are in agreement that errors in our thinking are a major cause of human unhappiness. Rational Emotive Behavioural therapy is a therapeutic system that combines both theory and practices; generally one of the goals of rational emotive behavioural therapy is to help clients see the ways in which they have learned how they often needlessly upset themselves, teach them how to un-upset themselves and then how to help themselves in order to be able to lead a happier and more fulfilling life. Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy is a very challenging form of therapy in which the therapist helps patients to notice when they are distressing themselves, and then to change their way of thinking.
Cognitive behaviour approach differs from the psychodynamic approach in that it deals with the cause of the problem which is thought to be from the past, when as a child, the client has had to cope with a traumatic experience, which as a result is affecting them now. This approach is all about the unconscious mind and the interpretation of dreams, hence the role of the councillor is to interpret these and decide why and how it is currently affecting the person.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy educates individuals with the knowledge to sort out their feelings about present situations. Psychodynamic therapy allows the client and councillor to spend time looking at painful memories and negative thoughts and experiences from childhood, they require a much closer relationship, as this is what the therapy relies on to work. The client has to be able to express their feelings and emotions, feel totally happy with and trust the counsellor 100% in order for them to understand the clients mind and work out the connection between past experiences and their present thoughts.
In theory both types of therapy will get the same results – the client would be able to manage the negative thoughts and beliefs and both will result in the client hopefully regaining their life back, the way in which they achieve the end result may be completely different, using a variety of techniques but the outcome and the goals for all types of therapists is the same.
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References –
Beck (1976) The Cognitive Strand in McLeod, J. (2008).Introduction to Counselling[Ed.D.Langdridge],Maidenhead/Milton Keynes, Open University Press/The Open University.
McLeod, J. (2008).Introduction to Counselling[Ed.D.Langdridge],Maidenhead/Milton Keynes, Open University Press/The Open University.
I prefer the psychodynamic approach as I believe in this approach , I believe that finding out why we feel and behave how we do is the only way to sort out our issues, if we are not able to understand and deal with the root cause of the issues then I cannot see how we can sort the problem. The client/counsellor relationship is a much closer one, the client gets to know the councillor and can trust and believe in them.
From my experience in a cognitive behavioural approach, the counsellor is more like a teacher and tells the client what they should and shouldn’t be doing, I felt as if I was being told off for the way I felt and was behaving, which made me feel very opposed to going to the sessions. I didn’t feel close enough to the counsellor to truly explain the way I felt and that she would understand. It would have been helpful to look into the reason I was experiencing the negative thoughts. I believe that a councillor is the kind of person that will sit and listen and not judge, but try to understand, help and encourage as much as they possibly can. It takes a very special person to become a good counsellor.
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Self Evaluation
1. I have enjoyed the first part of the course; I have understood the differences between the different types of therapy.
2. I had a lot of trouble putting this essay together – always been my downfall, I didn’t understand the referencing and not sure if I have set out the essay correctly?
