L4 - Cognitive therapy Flashcards
(38 cards)
Arbitrary inference
Drawing conclusions even in the presence of countering evidence/without evidence
Selective abstraction
Drawing conclusions on the basis of details that are out of context
E.g., I did not understand functional analysis so I will not pass this course that tests a lot of other things other than functional analysis
Overgeneralization
I did not pass my stats course so I will not pass this PTS course either
Magnification/minimization
Exaggerating or uderestimating situations
E.g., if I don’t pass this course it will be DISASTER or the opposite (If I kill my friend it’ll be okay)
Personalization
Holding yourself responsible for certain events that have nothing to do with you
Dichotomous thinking
Thinking in extremes
- If I don’t pass this course I’ll be a terrible psychologist
Cognitive specificity (table 7.1, p. 248-251)
Refers to the finding / bservation that people with different problems tend to show specific content in their thinkig
E..g, ppl with panic disorder tend to catastrophize things they feel in their body for example & those with an ED are preoccupied with their body
levels of cognitions
voluntary thoughts
E.g., you walk alone in the forest as a girl and you see a man behind you
- A voluntary thought may be "how can I avoid this person?" Trying to solve a situation that you think is somehow problematic because underlying that is an automatic assumption
levels of cognitions
automatic thoughts
An automatic thought may underlie a voluntary thought
- E.g., in this case “He’s going to attack me”
levels of cognition
Maladaptive assumptions
Behind these automatic thoughts may be maladaptive assumptions
- E.g., all men are after sex and all men are dangerous
You are less aware of, often not at all but they gradually emerge as themes in therapy
levels of cognitions
core beliefs
Underlying beliefs and cognitions
E.g., I am vulnerable, these core beliefs show themselves in maladaptive assumptions
the therapeutic relationship (3)
- Directive if necessary
- Guidance (leading from behind)
- Continuous (mutual feedback)
- Continually ask your patient if you are on track, does it make sense to the patient and are they gettting something out of it
You invite actively the patient to provide this feedback
- Continually ask your patient if you are on track, does it make sense to the patient and are they gettting something out of it
Behavioral (exposure) experiment (6)
- Identify belief/thought/process that experiment will target
- collaborate w/ patient to brainstorm ideas for an experiment
– be as specific as possible - Write predictions about the outcome and devise a method to record the outcome
- Anticipate problems and brainstorm solutions
- Conduct experiment
- Review the experiment and draw conclusions.
why is the behavioral experiment considered a cognitive technique?
- It is explicitly intended to challenge these cognitions / expectation violation hence it is a cognitive technique
what is important to include into behavioral experiments?
follow-up experiments are needed because patients might say “Ok I did this but it was really quiet in the supermarket” then you want them to repeat the experiment again when it IS busy
- Not a one and done experiment
Socratic questioning (4)
- Questions for clarification
- Questions that probe assumptions, thoughts, images
- examine the meanings of events for the patient
- Questions that probe consequences of maintaining thoughts & behaviors
techniques
logical examination
- By collecting information or by logical examination you help the client formulate their expectations and thoughts into the form of a testable hypothesis
techniques
guided discovery
- Slowly and gradually discovering threads and themes that reoccur throughout the patients narrative
Instead of readily providing answers
techniques
Collaborative empiricism
- A joint investigative attitude, characterized by curiosity, openness and equality“Patient is the expert on his or her own life and own cognitive life” they are a practical scientist that has become temporarily distorted
- A patient will be convinced that their thoughts and expectations are facts –> the task of a therapist who uses these strategies is to help the patient formulate these thoughts and expectations into a testable hypothesis
- Instead of directly contradicting
despite client being seen as an expert on their own life, what should they at least acknowledge
some level of insight in the client that their thoughts may not be the best way of thinking
* Only when this is the case can we move forward in therapy
! The client coming in to therapy can be seen as a willingness of them to at least consider the position that their thoughts may not be the most representative one
treatment goals (5)
to teach patient the following:
* monitor thoughts: monitor negative, automatic thoughts
* recognize connections: connections among behavior, affect and cognition
* examine evidence: for and against distorted automatic thought
* substitute interpretations: substitute more reality-oriented interpretations
* identify core beliefs: identify and alter the core beliefs
decatastrophizing
identify problem solving strategies for feared consequences
reattribution
consider alternative causes of events
redefining
making a problem more concrete and stating it in terms of patient’s own behavior
- e.g., I need to reach out to other people more instead of nobody pays me attention
