Chapter 7 - Cognitive Therapy (CT) Flashcards
(27 cards)
What is the basic idea/focus of cognitive therapy?
Distorted/dysfunctional thinking underlies emotional distress and maladaptive behaviour
What are five basic constructs/concepts that are included in CT (just name them)?
- Schemas
- Modes
- Cognitive vulnerabilities
- Cognitive distortions
- Information processing biases
What are schemas?
CT
Deep cognitive structures storing beliefs, assumptions and perceptions
What are modes?
CT
Integrated networks of cognitive, affective, motivational and behavioural schemas that govern personality and reactions
What are “primal modes”?
CT
Primal modes are modes that are survival-based and automatic
- e.g., anxiety
What is meant by cognitive vulnerabilites?
CT
Deep-seated, often unconscious core beliefs that predispose individuals to distorted thinking (during stress)
How do cognitive distortions differ from vulnerabilities?
Vulnerabilities are predisposing, distortions are current systematic errors in thinking
e.g., catastrophizing
What is meant by information processing bias in the context of CT?
Different disorders involve distinct processing biases (e.g., negativity in depression)
How is the therapeutic relationship seen in cognitive therapy (two core concepts are a part of this)?
Collaborative empiricism and guided discovery are seen as the basis:
- Therapy is a partnership focused on evaluating and modifying dysfunctional beliefs via logical and experiential methods
How does cognitive therapy differ from psychodynamic therapy?
(3)
- Focuses on conscious beliefs
- Is structured, short-term and problem-focused
- Therapists are active and collaborative
all of these are opposed to psychodynamic
How does CT differ from BT?
(2)
- Internal experiences are central targets
- FA is also focused on these internal cognitions (thus not environment/behaviour)
Note that BT does include thoughts and such, but it is not the target
What processes/interactions does cognitive therapy assume underlies psychological distress?
technically 6 points? basically a whole theory
Psych distress arises from the interaction of:
- Bio predispositions
- Learning history and environmental influences (aka the mains of BT)
- Core beliefs and cognitive vulnerabilities
- Stressors
What happens to people that are experiencing distress, according to cognitive therapy?
Engage in biased, rigid and distorted information processing due to activation of dysfunctional schemas and modes > automatic thoughts which mediate between events and emotional/behavioural responses
Beck theorized six key cognitive distortions, which are these (name them)?
- Arbitrary inference
- Selective abstraction
- Overgeneralization
- Magnification/minimization
- Personalization
- Dichotomous thinking
What is arbitrary inference?
CT
Drawing conclusions without evidence
me when socially anxious
What is selective abstraction?
Focusing on detail while ignoring context
What is overgeneralization?
Applying one experience broadly (to many others)
What is magnification/minimization?
Either exaggerating or downplaying importance of events/thoughts/etc.
What is personalization?
Attributing unrelated events to oneself?
Narcissistic much
What is dichotomous thinking?
All-or-nothing thinking (but with a more fancy word)
What are the four main steps of cognitive therapy?
- Identify automatic thoughts (during distress)
- Evaluate thoughts for accurace and helpfulness
- Challenge and restructure dysfunctional beliefs
- Modify core schemas
What four methods are commonly used in cognitive therapy (to gather info, etc.)?
- Socratic questioning (more-so guided discovery nowadays)
- Behavioural experiments
- Cognitive techniques (surprising)
- Behavioural methods
What cognitive techniques are commonly used in CT?
name them (4)
- Decatastrophizing
- Reattribution
- Redefining
- Decentring
What is decatastrophizing?
Helps clients evaluate realistic consequences of their fears and reduce exaggerated thinking through “what-if” statements (what if that bad thing happened?)
