Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

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Cognitive behavioural therapy centres on overcoming emotional and behavioural problems, by focusing on the way a person thinks and acts (DUMMIES REF). CBT is a combination of cognitive and behavioural therapy techniques and aims to support lasting change for clients who suffer problems such as anxiety, depression and phobias (Soy Ref). Although each therapy is diverse in its own right, Corsini and Wedding (2008) state they share similarities, such as identifying client’s functional issues and being problem orientated. CBT interactively assists clients in changing maladaptive behaviours and negative automatic responses, to external events, with the use of specific interventions such as drawing new conclusions, decentering, diary keeping and …show more content…
This resulted in combining cognitive and behavioural approaches to therapy to form one comprehensive approach, named cognitive behavioural therapy. What resulted was an in depth problem solving and goal orientated approach, which Forman (2011) states focuses on the interaction of the thoughts, emotions and behaviours that maintain a client’s mental distress. CBT stresses the importance of educating clients about these interactions and aiding them in understanding their reciprocal nature, can help increase client’s awareness of their automatic thoughts in different situations (SOY REF). The goal is to assist clients in responding to events in a more positive and healthy manner, which involves the assessment of their problems, the application of tailored interventions and the predicted prevention of potential obstacles that can emerge in the clients life that could cause relapse (Westbrook et al., 2007). Forman (2011) states that CBT works on the principle that people’s behaviours are based upon what they perceive to be happening in a situation and once these are understood, one can be trained to respond differently (Forman, …show more content…
At the heart of CBT, is what is called the ABC’s of CBT, which Forman (2011) state is the A - antecedent or trigger, B – belief and C – consequences which all formulate our emotional responses. This is seen as a central technique to CBT as a good starting point in helping the client to differentiate between their feelings, thoughts and behaviours (DUMMIES REF).

Due to CBT’s scientifically researched nature, a number of techniques to change maladaptive
This is achieved by client and therapist collaboration, to analyse the here and now of the clients habitual responses to problems and how best to find solutions to them, based on what interventions work best for them individually (Westbrook et al., 2007). Some examples of interventions are identifying cognitions, diary keeping and relaxation techniques, which all aim to allow the client to objectively reassess and potentially change their automatic responses (Forman, 2011).
Tailoring specific interventions to each client is essential to CBT, as the client is largely responsible for managing their own problems and for example, if the intervention of diary keeping works for a client presenting with anxiety, it does not mean it will work effectively for another client who also has