What is it about the cognitive model and cognitive-behavior therapy that you find most attractive as a behavioral health counselor?
The cognitive-behavioral model aims to change thinking patterns of patients and manage negative attitudes and communication patterns. The aim of cognitive-behavioral therapy is to teach and elucidate a client how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and how to think positively. The task of the counselor is to determine symptoms, and most likely, an inability of a client to reappraise these misinterpretations realistically. There appears to be a deficiency in information processing that may be conceptualized in cognitive–behavior terms. The most attractive thing in cognitive-behavioral therapy is the ability of a counselor to help clients in difficult life situations and show them that positive and balanced thinking is the most appropriate way for improvements. The cognitive model o is essentially a descriptive model. It is derived from psychological examinations such as that reported in the vignette which follows. Often, but not always, the acutely nervous client is overwhelmed by thoughts that he is dying. The fear of dying may be triggered by some unexpected or harsh physical feeling. In order to educate a client I will use analysis and evaluation method to help the person understand his mistakes and maintain a new thinking pattern. Also, I will use the method of example to show positive results and outcomes experienced by other people. This progression of cognitive-affective issues does not imply exclusive somatic or mental causation. Irrespective of the investigator’s perspective, the model can serve a variety of purposes: as an aid to diagnosis, as a backdrop for studying the psychological effects of emotional events or pharmacological interventions, or as a blueprint for making psychological interventions. (Beck 54).
Describe one aspect of a cognitive behavioral approach to counseling
Group therapy is one of the most effective approaches which helps the counselor to share ideas and opinions and create a positive and friendly climate. In group therapy, all clients begin to concentrate their attention on their bodily feelings when they move toward a situation in which they have previously had a problem. The more the clients concentrate their attention on these problems and solutions, the stronger the positive feelings become. The meeting points to the importance of the client’s imagery and misinterpretation in the genesis of the emotional problems. Clients are somewhat more successful when the information regarding the emotional nature of their feelings is presented to them by another person. When they change focus from their symptoms and refocus on affirmations from another person, the corrective data becomes more salient or perhaps, the “closed system” quality of frightened thinking becomes more permeable to external information (Beck 101).
In group therapy, internal experiences are typically instigated by social situations, phobic events, or being alone, but from time to time occur as the result of emotional factors such as hypotension or hypoglycemia. The next stage in the treatment of the cognitive disorders is the interpretation of these feelings. Such problems as severe distress, total disability, and duration are usually similar to signs and symptoms observed by other clients. These issues support the opinion that cognitive disorders are characterized by ideation associated with fixation on physical or mental experiences. The counselor can guide the discussion with the help of direct questioning, induction of imagery through forced fantasy method, induction of imagery through hyperventilation, and use of questionnaires. The group therapy helps clients to feel supported and interact with people who experience the same problems and troubles.
Works Cited
Beck, J. Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond. The Guilford Press; 1 edition, 1995.