Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on how a person thinks about things and how it impacts their emotions and feelings. It focuses on current thinking skills instead of previous experiences or memories. Person-centred therapy is a type of cognitive therapy that emphasises the role of thoughts and beliefs in shaping a person’s emotions and behaviours. 

Cognitive therapy

Cognitive therapy is sometimes called cognitive behavioural therapy because it focuses not only on the way people think (the cognitive) but also on the way people act (the behaviour). In this form of therapy, the goal is to identify and modify distressing or negative thoughts and beliefs that trigger emotional or physical symptoms. By challenging these beliefs, cognitive therapy intends to reduce the influence of these thoughts on a person’s emotions and behaviour. Traditional CBT typically involves a series of homework assignments and sessions with a therapist, but online CBT may also be an option. 

It may involve challenging destructive or anxiety-provoking thoughts and beliefs, such as the false belief that one is inadequate or a failure. It also involves identifying and modifying behaviour patterns associated with these thoughts and beliefs, such as excessive worrying or rumination.

History and Origin of Cognitive Therapy

The origins of cognitive therapy can be traced back to the work of Aaron Beck, a psychiatrist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Beck believed that the process of challenging and disproving these thoughts through a series of cognitive exercises would improve his patients’ lives.

In the late 1960s, Beck grew dissatisfied by lengthy psychodynamic treatment techniques centred on obtaining insights into unconscious emotions and desires. He concluded that his patients’ issues were caused by how they viewed and ascribed meaning to their life rather than their feelings and wants. He realised that he could help his patients work through destructive or disturbing thoughts that negatively impacted their behaviour and emotions. He understood that these patterns were largely the result of inaccurate or maladaptive thoughts.

Cognitive therapy to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive behavioural therapy relates to the principles of behaviourism. The 1990s and 2000s saw the rise of a third psychotherapy paradigm—the Cognitive Revolution. The Cognitive Revolution was a movement away from the Freudian psychoanalytic approach and the behaviourist paradigm, which focused on the causes of behaviour. Instead, the Cognitive Revolution focused on the causes of thoughts and feelings. This new perspective clashed with popular behaviourism, which maintained that mental factors were unscientific. Although behavioural components have always been present in cognitive therapy, supporters of Beck’s method aimed to retain and establish it as a separate, standardised type of cognitive behavioural therapy. The basic mechanism of transformation is the cognitive shift. 

Nature of cognitive therapy 

Cognitive therapy is a treatment in which patients are assisted in recognising and changing faulty self-beliefs that generate certain moods and behaviours. Cognitive therapy is based on the notion that cognition precedes emotion, and that both are related to a person’s environment, physical reactions, and subsequent behaviour. As a result, changing a thought that arises in a certain situation will change the mood, behaviour, and bodily reaction. Although it is uncertain who benefits the most from cognitive therapy, it is likely that motivated patients with an internal locus of control and the ability to introspect would profit the most.

During cognitive therapy, the therapist assists the patient in completing a series of tasks. 

• First, the patient acknowledges that parts of their views and interpretations of reality are incorrect (prior experience, inherited or biological factors). These interpretations lead to unpleasant feelings. 
• The patient then learns to detect negative (surface or ‘automatic’) beliefs and develops alternative concepts that reflect reality more accurately.
• Next, the patient makes an internal decision about whether the evidence supports the negative or alternate thought. The patient should detect skewed thinking and ‘reframe’ the circumstance in the best-case scenario. 
• As time goes on, cognitive therapy focuses more on reframing deeply held or ‘core’ ideas about oneself and the world.

Effectiveness of cognitive therapy 

• CBT is the most widely used evidence-based treatment for eating disorders. 
• CBT has been shown to be beneficial in people suffering from insomnia as well as those suffering from general medical conditions that interfere with sleep, such as those suffering from physical pain or mood disorders like depression.
• Cognitive behavioural therapy has been shown in studies to be useful in treating depression and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents.
• The National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program studied the efficacy of two forms of psychotherapy (interpersonal therapy and CBT) with imipramine (Tofranil) or placebo in 250 individuals with major depressive disorder.

Cognitive therapy can deliver better results with better care

Patients with depression should be informed that psychotherapy and medicine are both viable treatments and that cognitive therapy, or CBT, is the best researched of the two. If the patient and doctor decide to start with medication and no improvement is noticed, the doctor should advise adding psychotherapy or CBT again. Patients with severe or persistent depression and teenagers should actively consider CBT as an initial treatment option. Longer appointments might be planned if the patient refuses to be referred or the family physician offers CBT. Medical and patient resources are available, and more physician training should be explored.

Conclusion 

Cognitive therapy is a type of psychotherapy based on how we think about things that impacts how we feel emotionally. It is a relatively short-term treatment. Traditional CBT usually entails a series of homework assignments and therapist appointments; however, online CBT may also be an option. Cognitive therapy is a treatment that helps patients recognise and fix false self-beliefs. The Cognitive Revolution marked a shift away from Freudian psychoanalysis. This new method clashed with popular behaviourism, which maintained that mental reasons were not scientific.