1. Aaron beck & Cognitive therapy
PSY 708: Cognitive Assessment & Psychotherapy

2. Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders
Chapters 1-4
(Beck, 1979)

3. Ch. 1: Common Sense and Beyond
“The popularity of a particular system seems to depend more on the charisma and single-mindedness of its originator than on the soundness of its foundations.”
The solution to sound therapy may be available in our conscious ideas and our “common-sense” ways of defining and coping with psychological problems.

4. Common Sense and Beyond
The “old school” theories (e.g., psychodynamic, behaviorists) often lead to individuals thinking they can’t help themselves when confronted with a stressor/life problem
Must seek professional help
Inhibits generalization/maintenance of change when therapy is complete
No independent problem-solving skills

5. Common Sense and Beyond
Consciousness = internal psychological events
Necessary information for the “systematic study” of human behavior
“Common-sense psychology includes the psychological operations, reflections, observations, and introspections by which someone attempts to determine why she is upset, what is bothering her, and what can she do to relieve her distress”

6. Common Sense and Beyond
BUT: Common sense fails at providing plausible and useful explanations for psychological disorders
However, once the missing data are supplied common sense tools can be used for understanding and treatment
Often comes through a process of empathy and identification with the client
Helps understand meanings clients attach to their experiences
Some thoughts/behaviors may seem irrational, but it makes sense within the client’s conceptual framework

7. Common Sense and Beyond
Psychological problems may result from:
Psychological problems can be mastered by:
Faulty learning
Making incorrect inferences from inadequate or incorrect information
Not adequately distinguishing between imagination and reality
Erroneous premises (i.e., unreasonable attitudes)
Sharpening discriminations
Correcting misconceptions
Learning more adaptive attitudes
Cognitive therapy includes:
Introspection
Insight
Reality testing
learning
Because cognitive phenomena are easily identified through introspection, they may be readily investigated

9. Ch. 2: Tapping the Internal Communications
Profound and/or chronic discrepancy between internal and external systems = possible psychological disorder
The “thought” is what links the external stimulus with the emotional response (and subsequent behavior)
External stimulus = activating event

10. Tapping the Internal Communications
One goal is to track thoughts
Interpretation of a situation precedes emotional responses
Interpretation = thoughts
Key component of therapy is to improve awareness of these thoughts
Initially this can be a challenging process because these thoughts are often quick and automatic, which results in being overlooked
Hence the term: Automatic Thoughts

11. Tapping the Internal Communications
Automatic Thoughts Characteristics
Specific and concrete
Reflexive in nature
Can be difficult to turn off
Inappropriately regarded as plausible or reasonable
Validity accepted without question or testing
Pervasive, even after contrary objective evidence through external experience
Idiosyncratic to the client and diagnosis
Overall, significant distortion of reality relative to other thoughts

12. Tapping the Internal Communications
Over-monitoring = self-consciousness and over-regulation to excessive inhibition
Deficit in monitoring = impulsivity
Self-instructions
Can be over-mobilized = constantly driving oneself
Can also result in avoidance or inhibition of action

13. Tapping the Internal Communications
We all have a set of general rules that guide how we react to specific situations
Guide overt actions
Form the basis for specific interpretations, expectancies, and self-instructions
Provide standards by which we judge the efficacy and appropriateness of our actions and evaluate self-worth (and how we judge/evaluate others)
Help provide a framework for understanding life situations and make sense out of complex situations
These rules are of great interest because they can help explain unpredictable, illogical behavior and abnormal emotional responses

15. Ch. 3: Meaning and Emotions
“The thesis that the special meaning of an event determines the emotional response forms the core of the cognitive model of emotions and emotional disorders: the meaning is encased in a cognition – a thought or an image”

16. Meaning and Emotions The cognitive model is consists of:
(1) Reports of introspective observations of thoughts and feelings
(2) The determination of the relation of thoughts to feelings
Generalizations made regarding particular thoughts (or meanings) lead to particular emotions

17. Meaning and Emotions The Personal Domain
Consists of tangible and intangible objects
At the center of one’s personal domain:
Concept of self
Physical attributes and Personal characteristics
Goals and values
Clustered around one’s personal domain:
Family and Friends
Material possessions
The nature of a person’s emotional response – or emotional disturbance – depends on whether she perceives events as adding to, subtracting from, endangering, or impinging upon her domain

18. Meaning and Emotions Sadness Euphoria Anxiety
Perception or expectation of loss from one’s domain
See p. 59 for specific types of loss
Euphoria
Perception or expectation of gain for one’s domain
Anxiety
Anticipation/threat of danger to one’s domain
Coping plays a role (recall Folkman & Lazarus)
Appraise situation as a threat or not
Estimate ability to neutralize or cope with the danger

19. Meaning and Emotions Anger Perception of an assault on one’s domain
Including values, moral code, and protective rules
Must take infringement seriously and label it negatively
Must consider situation as immediate or continuing danger
Must focus primarily on the wrongfulness of the offense and the offender
Situations that commonly lead to anger:
(a) direct and intentional attack
(b) direct, unintentional attack
(c) violation of laws, standards, social values

21. Ch. 4: Cognitive Content of Emotional Disorders
Neurotic Disorder
Ideational Content
Depression…………………………
Hypomania…………………………
Anxiety………………………………
Phobia……………………………….
Paranoid State………………………
Obsession………………………….
Compulsion…………………………
Devaluation of domain
Inflated evaluation of domain
Danger to domain
Danger connected with specific, avoidable situations
Unjustified intrusion on domain
Warning or doubting
Self-command to perform specific act to ward off danger

22. Cognitive Content of Emotional Disorders
Cognitive Distortions
Personalization: egocentric interpretations; the propensity to interpret events in terms of their personal meanings
Dichotomous Thinking: thoughts are in absolute terms such as “always” or “never”
Catastrophizing: anticipation of extreme adverse outcomes
Selective Abstraction: taking detail out of context; missing the significance of the total situation
Arbitrary Inference: jumping to a conclusion when evidence is lacking or contrary to the conclusion
Overgeneralization: making broad conclusions based on a single incident (often while ignoring evidence to the contrary)