| Cognitive Therapy (Beck) is a collaborative process | | | | In cognitive marital therapy, a wife reports her |
| of empirical investigation, reality testing, and problem | | | | frustration with her husband for not taking out the |
| solving between therapist and client where the client's | | | | trash, which she says is causing a lot of problems in |
| maladaptive interpretations and conclusions are | | | | their marriage. Her husband, however, complains that |
| treated as testable hypotheses. The 3 levels of | | | | she fails to recognize other things he does to help. |
| cognition Beck believed influenced the cause and | | | | Selective abstraction is the cognitive distortion most |
| maintenance of pathology are Automatic thoughts, | | | | likely leading to the wife's frustration as she is |
| schemas, and cognitive distortions. A cognitive | | | | focusing on a single detail that is taken out of |
| therapist might ask a client to keep a journal of | | | | context, at the expense of other information. The |
| Automatic Thoughts, which are thoughts that arise | | | | term Cognitive Restructuring refers to therapeutic |
| spontaneously in response to certain situations and | | | | techniques that attempt to alter maladaptive thought |
| are more a reflection of a client's appraisal of a | | | | patterns that are believed to be responsible for |
| situation rather than the actual situation itself. | | | | maladaptive behavior and emotional disorders. An |
| Schemas (core beliefs; underlying assumptions) are | | | | elderly man who was mugged by a group of teenage |
| internal models of the self and the world that | | | | boys develops a hatred for all adolescents, |
| develop over the course of experiences beginning | | | | exemplifying this cognitive distortion. |
| early in life and can serve an adaptive function by | | | | Overgeneralization Regarding cognitive distortions, a |
| allowing new information to be linked with old | | | | person who describes a recent trauma as "no big |
| information, making for more efficient information | | | | deal" is likely minimizing, while a person who becomes |
| processing. Beck identified systematic errors in | | | | overly emotional after getting a small scratch in their |
| reasoning that form the link between dysfunctional | | | | car represents magnification. Personalization is a |
| schemas and automatic thoughts, which he called | | | | cognitive distortion characterized by inappropriately |
| Cognitive distortions. It refers to the process of a | | | | attributing external events to oneself when no causal |
| person biasing or adapting newly processed | | | | connection really exists (e.g., a therapist takes |
| information to fit a relevant schema. A client in | | | | responsibility for her client being fired from work). |
| therapy reports to his therapist that he is a bad | | | | The cognitive distortion of separating experiences |
| employee and is likely to get fired; however, the | | | | into 2 extremes, such as all good and all bad, is called |
| therapist soon recognizes the client's negative | | | | Dichotomous Thinking. In Cognitive Therapy, negative |
| conclusion cannot be supported by real evidence and, | | | | thoughts about the self, the future, and the world |
| in fact, seems to go against the therapist's | | | | are referred to as the Cognitive triad. A person who |
| experience of the client as punctual, engaged, and | | | | presents with cognitions of hopelessness, low |
| hardworking. The cognitive distortion this client is | | | | self-esteem, and failure is most likely experiencing |
| most likely making is arbitrary inference, which occurs | | | | symptoms of depression, while anxiety is associated |
| when specific conclusions are drawn with no | | | | with thoughts of anticipated harm or danger. |
| evidence. | | | | |