Modern psychology developed six patterns to differentiate and adequately treat abnormalities based on individuals’ physical and mental switches. One such model is cognitive-behavioral which focuses on a person’s thoughts and actions and specifies the interplay between them (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 48). Abnormalities tended to be examined through the behavior, yet soon the cognitive processes, such as anticipating or interpreting, were noticed in human activities, leading clinicians to create new treatment approaches (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 49). This paper aims to discuss the goals, assumptions, and concepts of the cognitive-behavioral model and analyze its implementation based on the research of treatment of schizophrenia.
The primary goal, key concepts, and treatment techniques of the cognitive-behavioral model are developed to treat abnormalities that can be identified via an individual’s thoughts and actions interconnection. It is appropriate to discuss the assumptions and strategies from separate dimensions to reveal the basis of therapy approaches. From the behavioral perspective, abnormal patterns can be learned, leading a person to psychological issues (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 49). Scientists divided the forms of applying the forms of actions into classical, modeling, and operant conditioning. Respectively, abnormal behavior can be learned as a reaction to a stimulus, copying others’ attitudes, or experiencing consequences like reinforcements or punishments (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 49). From the cognitive perspective, deviant functioning develops due to personal disturbing assumptions and illogical thinking processes (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 50). The cognitive-behavioral model’s goal is to provide treatment that addresses an individual’s thinking attitudes and the actions that consequently occur.
The model identifies behavior when a person’s action severely influences their lives or when the assumptions do not comply with the reality as abnormal. Serious misinterpretation of reality based on a person’s attitudes develops disturbing actions and disorders like social anxiety (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 50). The cognitive-behavioral model basic concepts are stimulus, response, reward, attitude, and interpretation, and all address the interplay between the personal perception of reality and out-coming reactions (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 53). Indeed, stimulus reveals how the thoughts analyze the environment and lead to the active response in threatening or uncomfortable situations. The concept of reward in the model is an approach to help individuals change their behavior by making the outcomes of proper actions more attractive than of the abnormal (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 49). For example, therapists utilize the approach to establish new behavioral patterns in aggressive children.
Attitude and interpretation are the model’s vital concepts as the former is required to treat the abnormal behavior, and the latter can help find and eliminate a disorder’s root cause (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 51). Suppose a child misinterpreted the parents’ reaction to their emotions and then developed an abnormal attitude of showing what they feel. Such behavior patterns can lead to severe disorders like depression or anxiety, and re-analyzing the situation can help a person change their interpretation.
Therapists broadly apply the cognitive-behavioral model’s techniques due to their benefit of addressing thoughts and actions’ interconnection. Indeed, they “seek to replace a person’s problematic behaviors with more appropriate ones, applying the principles of operant conditioning, classical conditioning, or modeling” (Antony, 2019; Foa et al., 2018, as cited in Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 50). The research on cognitive-behavioral approaches revealed patterns of disorders, making the techniques of interpreting and substituting the most useful. For example, the novel acceptance and commitment therapy helps individuals reveal the causes of the abnormalities. In disorders like depression, the change of the triggers’ perception is achieved by replacing misbehavior with embracement (Comer & Comer, 2019, p. 53). The cognitive-behavioral model’s techniques assist in the treatment of severe diseases like schizophrenia.
In the study conducted by Turkington, Kingdon, and Turner in 2002, the cognitive-behavioral intervention was applied on patients with schizophrenia to confirm the model’s efficiency. The scientists conveyed the pragmatic randomized trial involving 422 patients and carers to compare usual treatment with the inclusion of cognitive-behavioral practices with the intervention ratio of 2:1 (Turkington et al., 2002, p. 523). The research hypothesized that applying cognitive-behavioral methods can incite the outcomes and help provide improved therapy for patients when they do not deliver professional treatment (Turkington et al., 2002, p. 523). To test it out, patients aged 18-65 who were treated at psychiatric secondary care services and were selected, and sampling was based on random division on six groups for ones who agreed to participate (Turkington et al., 2002, p. 523). Care providers studied the cognitive-behavioral strategies, patients attended treatment sessions, and the data was calculated by analyzing the meetings’ audiotapes, based on the independent evaluation.
The results were based on the criteria comparison for the that received the cognitive-behavioral treatment to the usual one. The intervention had a mean of 4.71 previous admissions for schizophrenia, and the opposite one had 5.18 entries with more days spent in a hospital (Turkington et al., 2002, p. 524). Based on the age, gender, ethnicity, and treatment approaches, the result’s analysis revealed that the update in therapy clinically significantly improved the insight, but not the overall symptomatology (Turkington et al., 2002, p. 525). The researchers have selected the topic to analyze if cognitive-behavioral therapy can be applied for patients with schizophrenia to improve the outcomes and education for caregivers for ones in secondary care settings.
The study’s future implication is the increasing role of psychological treatments for schizophrenia and the development of strategies to provide better care. The limitations are the lack of psychotic symptoms’ improvement among the participants and the study’s narrowness as it cannot be epidemiologically representative (Turkington et al., 2002, p. 525). The results support the cognitive-behavioral model as its inclusion in secondary care did harm the patients and became beneficial to them.
References
Comer, R. J. & Comer, J. S. (2019). Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (9th ed.). Macmillan.
Turkington, D., Kingdon, D., & Turner, T. (2002). Effectiveness of a brief cognitive–behavioural therapy intervention in the treatment of schizophrenia. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 180(6), 523-527. Web.