Psychotherapy Essay -- Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

My preferred theoretical orientation is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The main assumption of CBT is that events and situations in life do non cause emotional problems (e.g., guilt or depression) rather problems are due to irrational beliefs and perceptions about the situations (Corey, 2009). The goals of CBT focus on correcting the nodes automatic and unsuccessful thoughts, which should ultimately help them to develop a more adaptive philosophy of life (Corey, 2009). I like that this approach focuses on challenging and changing the clients cognitive distortions, core beliefs, automatic thoughts, and schemas. Another positive aspect is that this approach focuses on the cognitive triad, which consists of how one views the self, the world, and the future (Corey, 2009). Furthermore, CBT places responsibility on the psyche to put insight into action by making changes to their thoughts and behaviors, both in and out of the therapy sessions (Corey, 2009). In order to bring about change, the client needs to image that the primary source of difficulty lies in how they perceive events based on their belief system (Kellogg & Young, 2008). Overall, CBT is a structured approach that emphasizes EVTs, learning, empowerment, brevity, and focusing on the soul (Kellogg &Young, 2008). CBT is open to using techniques from other approaches that fit the needs of the client, and the empirically validated techniques of CBT, when individualized for the client, work well in other approaches (Corey, 2009). These aspects of CBT make it a useable approach that can be adapted for individuals from different cultural and economic backgrounds (Corey, 2009 Kellogg & Young, 2008). In general, CBT is a structured approach and inclu... ...manual (Craske & Zucker, 2001). It is rare for a client to recognise into therapy with only one disorder that has the outlined symptoms of the diagnosis that calls for a particular treatment. Therefore, following the manual stringently may not h elp the client improve, simply making slight deviations depending on the clients characteristics and circumstances may allow the technique to be successfully adapted and useful for the individual. It is also possible that a clinical psychologist will add their own individual preferences to therapy no matter what therapeutic approach or technique they use (Scaturo, 2001). A proportion between the use of manualized treatments and clinical judgment to formulate the case conceptualization is needed to be used in order to gather enough discipline on the client to successfully use any necessary treatment techniques (Craske & Zucker, 2001).