Факультет клинической психологии cognitive-behavior therapy

Cognitive-behavior therapy is a kind of behavior therapy that treats thoughts and ideas as learned behavior. The term cognitive-behavior modification is also used to describe this kind of therapy. The premises of cognitive-behavior therapy are consistent with those of behavior therapy in general. It is argued that maladaptive thoughts, the kinds of thoughts that underlie problems of adjustment, are acquired through conditioning process. And they can be extinguished or modified like any other learned behavior. A maladaptive thought is any thought that precedes undesirable behavior or has negative emotional consequences. If Mary has been told that she should stop smoking by her physician and she still finds herself thinking, "I have just got to have a cigarette", then this is a maladaptive thought. If Richard is prone to anxiety and often finds himself thinking, "Everything's going to go wrong", then this is maladaptive thought.

Cognitive-behavior therapy emphasizes training methods, skills that an individual can acquire to deal with maladaptive thoughts. Donald Meichenbaum. A research psychologist has explored a number of these methods. An example of such a methods is stress-inoculation training. In stress-inoculation training, the individual prepares ahead of time to cope with stressful situation by using explicit strategies.

Let's say that Steven is preparing for a first date with Joanna, a woman he thinks very attractive. Unfortunately, Steven suffers from chronic shyness, and he is having problems controlling his anxiety about the date. He keeps thinking "I'll say something stupid" or I'll make a fool out of myself". Using stress-inoculation training it is recommended that Steven do a number of things. He should imagine the outcome of the date in positive terms, seeing it in his mind's eye as a success. He should mentally review his good points as a person. He should rehearse that he is going to say and do on the date. He should stop thinking that he has to get rid of all anxiety. He only has to reduce it. These cognitive procedures inoculate the student prior to the date and help him to make it more of success.

Cognitive therapy is an approach to psychotherapy that focuses on replacing maladaptive automatic thoughts with adaptive voluntary ones. The term cognitive therapy is usually associated with the work of psychiatrist Aaron Beck, although it has broad general meaning and can been loosely used to label any cognitive approach to therapy, including cognitive-behavior therapy. Focusing on Beck's approach, automatic maladaptive thoughts often reside behind depression. People think, "I am worthless" or "I am a failure", or "My life has no meaning". In therapy it can be often shown that such thoughts are cognitive distortions, ideas that are the result of warped and irrational thought process. The therapist helps the patient to develop the logical tools necessary to modify the impact of automatic thoughts. Research has shown that, in many cases, cognitive therapy can be an effective way to relieve depression. Beck has shown that automatic thoughts can be associated with almost any functional mental disorder. This cognitive therapy is an approach with a wide spectrum of applications.