Cognitive Therapy

Overview

   

 

 CT seeks to help the patients overcome the difficulties by identifying and changing dysfunctional thinking, behavior and emotional responses. This involves skills for :

• modifying beliefs
• identifying distorted thinking related to others
• changing behaviors

CT recognizes 10 common faulty patterns of thinking which are known as cognitive distortions. They are below:

 

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Another important concept in CT include automatic thoughts and schemas. 

Methods used in CT

1. Collaborative empiricism 

 

2. guided discovery/socratic questioning

Guided discovery is based on asking a series of questions that allows information to be brought into the client’s awareness. The client is therefore encouraged to discover things for herself. Guided discovery is sometimes also known interchangeably as Socratic questioning as it is derived from the method of teaching employed by Socrates, as recorded in the Socratic Dialogues (Cooper, 1997). This consisted of asking questions, which then promoted reflection, which in turn produced knowledge. These terms are often used interchangeably, which can be misleading. Socrates tended to know exactly where he was going with his questions, which is not a necessity for guided discovery, as detailed below. Originally, Socratic questioning involved a questioning style similar to that of a cross-examination (Sieple, 1985). Repetitive questioning was used to force people to admit their ignorance (Nelson, 1980). This would often result in humiliation of the client (Chessick, 1982).

ref ; http://www.priory.com/psychiatry/guided_therapy.htm

 3. graded task assignments

4. activity scheduling

5. journaling

6. validity testing

7. Modeling

8. Home work

9. Cognitive rehearsal

Reference :

http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/36593_01_Neenan_&_Dryden_(CT)_2e_CH_01.pdf (important notes)
http://mysite.du.edu/~chmorley/Beck.pdf