Aaron Beck COGNITIVE Therapy: What It Is And What It Is

Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy was developed to treat depression and the concept of this type of therapy arises from the origin of depressions. This therapy is basically focused on the thoughts that a person generates automatically, that is, what says about other people, the perception he has about life and the difficulties that lie ahead presenting. As well as the feelings, emotions and behavior that he experiences over time and how these are linked to his thoughts and behaviors that he presents.

That is why when the thoughts that the person maintains are very negative, they affect his emotions and therefore also the way he behaves. In this Psychology-Online article, we will talk about Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy: what it is and what it consists of. Next, we are going to explain in detail everything related to this model of psychological therapy.

Index

1. What is Beck's cognitive therapy?
2. What is cognitive therapy to treat depression?
3. Principles of cognitive therapy and the cognitive triad

Cognitive therapy is a product of the ddiscoveries of psychiatrist Aaron Beck in the year 1967. This American psychiatrist refers that the psychological disorders that a person can suffer arise from of the wrong thoughts that he has and the wrong way of interpreting what happens to him in his day to day. So all these thoughts and interpretations that the person makes over time, by repeating themselves so much, eventually they become stereotyped and rigid about their own perception of what is happening to them and their behavior.

• A good example of this would be a person suffering from depression, who has continuously negative thoughts about himself and feels a constant concern about what the future holds for him as he perceives it as hopeless. That is, this person focuses only on those negative aspects of your life and even exaggerates them and leaves out the positive part, which stops taking it totally into account.

In this type of therapy it is considered that the wrong way of thinking that people have is called "cognitive distortions”. It is about those irrational thoughts that by maintaining them over time cause the person to convert them in personal beliefs and that generally, as most of them have been learned since childhood, act at the level unconscious.

Throughout time the person through his beliefs gives a personal meaning to everything that happens to him, this is known as personal assumptions or cognitive schemes. These cognitive schemes or personal assumptions come to light on certain occasions, especially when the person experiences some change in her life, such as reaching have a physical illness or some other type of event considered negative and that causes their wrong thoughts or distortions to be triggered in turn cognitive. Finally, this type of cognitions or irrational thoughts, when they are constantly maintained, are called automatic thoughts.

Although cognitive therapy was initially developed to treat depression-related problems, it later went away developing designs based on the same theory that are used to treat other types of mental disorders and related problems emotional distress. Discover here the bases of the cognitive therapy to treat anxiety.

Because in this therapy it is proposed that the behavior and emotions of the person are based on their way of perceiving the world of him, it was concluded that the thoughts that a person has are directly related to your emotions and your behavior.

Beck's cognitive triad

This was explained graphically by means of a triangular figure since this is how it is represented the fact that thoughts influence emotions, emotions in behavior and vice versa. That is, there really is a reciprocal influence between the 3 parts.

An example of this would be a patient who suffers from anxiety and who says to himself (thought): "I'm sure I'm going to have an anxiety crisis", "I'm not able to overcome this", "I'm never going to be able to feel good." These types of thoughts, by constantly generating them, provoke a reaction (emotion) this can be sadness and anguish, eventually leading you to act on it and begin to physically experience a panic attack (conduct). In this way, with the passage of time, if the person gets used to the fact that the same type is always triggered thoughts, emotions and behaviors, these will become increasingly resistant and it will be more difficult eradicate them.

Aaron Beck's Cognitive Therapy Treatment Plan

The goal of cognitive therapy is for the patient together with the therapist to create new experiences that allow us to weaken those that he has rooted since childhood and that are negative for his way of feeling and Act. The fact of modify the patient's belief It is not done through a debate, but rather objective evidence is really sought that evaluates their beliefs and from there a more positive reality is established through empirical data.

• For example, a person who has the wrong belief and has developed a phobia to travel by plane since he thinks that if he travels in a safe plane it is going to crash, you can argue and verify that the plane is the most insurance.

Now that you know what it is and what the Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy, we are going to list you all the principles on which this therapy is governed to treat depression and other mood disorders.

• Beck's first principle or cognitive triad. It is mainly based on the dynamic formulation of the patient and the problems that he presents in cognitive terms. That is, the irrational thoughts of the patient that he currently presents as well as those actions that he carries out and that generate problems are identified. Your ideas and his belief system are also analyzed. All this is intended for the patient to also be able to identify them and make them aware of them so that they can later modify them and find new more positive and adaptive responses.
• Second principle. This type of therapy requires that a good therapeutic alliance be established between the client and the therapist.
• Third principle. It emphasizes active participation and collaboration. It is proven that patients who are more involved during treatment have a 50% probability of finding the help they need and finally solving their problems.
• Fourth principle. This therapy is goal-oriented and problem-focused. Therefore, from the first session, the problems on which he is going to work are established with the patient.
• Fifth principle. Cognitive therapy is focused on the present. So the patient is explained what it is to act in the here and now and if he acts based on it. It also explains how the thoughts he has related to the past or the future are affecting his emotional well-being in the present.
• Sixth principle. This therapy is educational since its objective is to teach the patient to be his own therapist by teaching him to identify all those negative automatic thoughts, his irrational beliefs and where they come from so that he finally learns to modify them for others more adaptable and positive.
• Seventh principle. This type of therapy is usually limited over time. That is, it is intended that the patient already shows improvements from the fourth session and that by the session fourteen already have enough tools to alleviate the symptoms that presents. However, all cases are different.
• Eighth principle. The sessions in this type of therapy are structured. That is, they have a script and a logical order that must be followed to facilitate the patient practice self-therapy and to allow the psychologist to pay attention to the most important of the patient.
• Ninth principle. This therapy helps the patient to identify as well as evaluate and analyze the dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors that he tells about.
• Tenth principle. It has many techniques that can be used to achieve with the patient to modify their thoughts, mood and behavior.

Finally, it is important to note that Aron Beck was not only a pioneer in cognitive therapy but also developed his own questionnaire to identify depression: Beck's depression inventory.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy: what it is and what it consists of, we recommend that you enter our category of Cognitive psychology.

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• Definition of Cognitive Therapy. (s.f.). Retrieved January 27, 2019, from https://www.cat-barcelona.com/pdf/filosofia/deftcog.pdf