Cognitive Therapy Focuses on Difficulties in the Here and Now and Looks at the Relationship

CLIENT INFORMATION ON COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY

Cognitive therapy focuses on difficulties in the here and now and looks at the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The theory of cognitive therapy asserts that: What people think affects how they feel emotionally and also alters what they do. The focus of the therapy is to enable the client to generate solutions to their problems that are more helpful than their present ways of coping. This is achieved by aiding the client to learn new ways of thinking and behaving, which involves using the time between therapy sessions to try things out. This is a term called “homework”.

The cognitive component in cognitive-behavioural psychotherapies refers to how people think about and create meaning about situations, symptoms and events in their lives and develop beliefs about themselves, others, and the world. Cognitive therapy uses techniques to help people become more aware of how they reason, and the kinds of automatic thoughts that spring to mind and give meaning to things.

Cognitive interventions use a style of questioning to probe for peoples’ meanings and use this to stimulate alternative viewpoints or ideas. This is called “guided discovery”, and involves exploring and reflecting on the style of reasoning and thinking, and possibilities to think differently and more helpfully. On the basis of these alternatives people carry out behavioural experiments to test out the accuracy of these alternatives, and thus adopt new ways of perceiving and acting. Overall the intention is to move away from more extreme and unhelpful ways of seeing things to more helpful and balanced conclusions.

The behavioural component in the cognitive-behavioural psychotherapies refers to the way in which people respond when distressed. Responses such as avoidance, reduced activity and unhelpful behaviours can act to keep the problems going or worsen how the person feels. CBT practitioners aim to help the person feel safe enough to gradually test out their assumptions and fear and change their behaviours.

Metaphor

A wise Chinese fisherman, while fishing off the end of a pier, was approached by a hungry woman, who hadn’t eaten anything for several days. Eyeing the basket of fish he had caught, the woman begged him to give her some fish to satisfy her hunger. After thinking for a moment, the fisherman replied, “I’m not going to give you any of my fish, but if you sit down next to me for a while and pick up a pole, I’ll teach you how to fish. That way you will not only eat today, you will learn how to feed yourself for the rest of your life”. The woman took the fisherman’s advice, learned to fish, and never went hungry again.

This metaphor suggests that CBT can help you today and in the future. Like the hungry woman, you will learn skills that, if practised, will help you for the rest of your life.

Val Grattage-Rushton Client Info. On CBT (01270 256712)