Essay Sample on Dr. Beck's Pioneering of Cognitive Behavior Therapy: A Breakthrough in Treating Depression

Introduction

In the 1960s, Dr. Aaron T. Beck pioneered Cognitive Behavior Therapy while working as a psychiatrist (Beck, 2011). Dr. Becks designed and performed various experiments at the University of Pennsylvania following his enormous practice and study of psychoanalysis to test psychoanalytic depression concepts. Dr. Beck was surprised to discover that his expectation of the research would not validate the fundamental concepts (Beck, 2011). By conceptualizing depression, Dr. Beck realized that depressed patients have negative streams of thought that increase spontaneously.

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Dr. Beck started to assist patients in evaluating and identify automatic thoughts. Beck realized that patients could think more realistically (Beck, 2011). Based on his findings, Dr. Beck realized that patients felt better emotionally and can behave more functionally. Thus, if patients change the underlying beliefs about the other people, their world, and themselves the therapy leads to a long-lasting change. Based on these concepts, Dr. Beck termed this as "Cognitive behavior therapy". Since these streams of negative thoughts were "automatic thoughts," Dr. Beck called them cognitions. Dr. Beck categorized these cognitions to three, where he asserted that patients had a negative thoughts about the future, the world, and themselves.

Key Concepts, Principles, and Assumptions

The automatic thoughts influence the emotional responses of a person, which implies that the same event can create different feelings for different patients depending on their interpretations. One of the vital philosophy applied by the cognitive behavior therapy of emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety are maintained through distorted thinking and is referred as a cognitive distortion. The cognitive distortions are recognized at the surface level similarly as negative automatic thoughts which entails a process in the consciousness of a person. In essence, a patient with an emotional disorder can interpret a situation negatively. For that reason, the patient can perceive the situation in a detrimental manner or associated it with threats that hinder its progress. At childhood, people establish schemas and beliefs and past experiences to determine how they view others, the world around them, and themselves. Also, a patient can assess how other people see themselves, others, and the world around them and how they react to the events (Beck, 2011). Negative schemas can contribute to maladaptive interactions and thinking between physiological changes, emotions, and negative thoughts that can lead to a dysfunctional pattern.

Cognitive behavior therapy is "guided discovery." Notably, guided discovery is a therapeutic viewpoint that entails how the patients understand things and help them to expand their thoughts and be aware of underlying assumptions to reach amicable solutions or discover an alternative approach. Guided discovery involves Socratic questioning. The method of questioning relies on how Socrates assisted his students to draw vital conclusions even without telling them directly.

According to Padesky, the ultimate focus of Socratic questions should draw the attention of the patient to something happening outside their current focus (Beck, 2011). Padesky posits that therapists and counselors apply these questions to probe assumptions of the patients, probe implications, highlight various perspectives, give evidence of beliefs, and questions the beliefs (Gogus, 2012). In other words, guided discovery is vital to interventions structured to every cognition level.

Based on targeting maladaptive core beliefs, patients can be asked to maintain a positive data log where a daily log of every observation is consistent with a more adaptive and new schema. In this context, core beliefs are the least accessible cognition level and are handled later as compared to negative automatic thoughts and dysfunctional assumptions (Gogus, 2012). On the concept of targeting dysfunctional assumptions, the patients are questioned to provide evidence which either supports or does not support their assumption. The idea of having mixed evidence is to help in remolding the policies that make them more accurate and elastic.

The counselor uses behavioral experiments to assists the patients in gathering information against the application of "safety behaviors'" which can be escaped and avoided. Cognitive model display safety behaviors as a tool that reinforces anxiety as they make negative automatic beliefs and dysfunctional assumptions impossible (Cuijpers, 2010). Behavioral experiments help the patients to gather information to discount any predictions that the safety behavior of avoidance is vital to remain safe and that something terrible is more likely to occur. Progressive breathing exercises and relaxation training are applied to lower the levels of autonomic arousal associated with anxiety. Progressive relaxation approach can be used to manage panic attacks and other anxiety disorders.

Counselors perform cognitive behavior therapy sessions to enhance learning, increase treatment efficiency, and provide therapeutic efforts on particular problems to give potential solutions. The sessions commence with an agenda-setting process where the therapist is required to help the patients select items that may contribute to productive therapeutic work in a specific session.

The cognitive behavior therapy approach proposes psychopathology as a product of faulty evidence processing manifesting itself in dysfunctional and distorted thinking which contributes to maladaptive and negative emotions. For instance, thought records are applied to the patients to make them aware of negative automatic thoughts (NATs) that identify thoughts from evidence, and see how they influence their moods (Lecomte, Leclerc, & Wykes , 2016). Thought records encourage resulting change in emotions and consideration of the other thoughts. For that reason, they are applied to challenge negative automatic thoughts.

Literature Supporting Therapy

Cognitive behavior therapy is an effective treatment for most mental disorders. Boyle, Lynch, Lyon, & Williams, (2010 argued that based on the meta-analytic review of controlled trials that cognitive behavior therapy is the best application method and treatment to be used for major depression (Boyle et al., 2010). Also, Butler's comprehensive review of 16 meta-analyses argues that cognitive behavior therapy is the best treatment for placebo conditions (Cuijpers, 2010). Many studies reveal that cognitive behavior therapy is a practical approach to treat adolescents and adult patients suffering from anxiety disorders, childhood depressive, post-traumatic stress, social phobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and bipolar disorder. According to Scott, cognitive behavior therapy for bipolar disorder are less effective as compared to common treatment on people who have suffered from at least 12 episodes. Cognitive behavior therapy accomplishes a "well-established" empirically supported therapy 'criteria as its effectiveness has been created in more than two carefully designed and reliable randomized control trials methods.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cognitive behavior therapy examines the association between behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. CBT is a structured, time-limited, and directive approach used by health care professionals to treat various mental health disorders. The ultimate purpose of the approach is to alleviate distress by assisting the patients to acquire more adaptive behaviors and cognitions. Even though cognitive behavior therapy is broadly studied, its principles are empirically supported by the psychotherapeutic approach. The strong evidence base of the approach can be seen in its clinical guidelines which perceive it as a treatment of any mental health diseases.

References

Beck, J. S. (2011). Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Second Edition: Basics and Beyond. Guilford Press.

Boyle, C., Lynch, L., Lyon, A., & Williams, C. (2010). The use and feasibility of a CBT intervention. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 16(3), 129-135. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-3588.2010.00586.x

Cuijpers, P. (2010). Group CBT for the prevention of depression in adults. Oxford Guide to Low Intensity CBT Interventions, 373-378. https://doi.org/10.1093/med:psych/9780199590117.003.0038

Gogus, A. (2012). Socratic Questioning. Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, 3147-3150. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_492

Lecomte, T., Leclerc, C., & Wykes, T. (2016). CBT Groups for Psychosis With Other Targets. Group CBT for Psychosis, 133-142. https://doi.org/10.1093/med:psych/9780199391523.003.0014