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There is no doubt that the topic of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) provides
enough engaging substance for numerous books and articles. The emphasis on the
importance of cognitive thinking and its role in determining our emotions and actions
was endearing and, indeed, evolutionary in the world of psychotherapy where
dissatisfaction grew the strictly behavioural approach. In this assignment, discussion
will be made concerning only the key components of CBT, as proposed by Beck, a
world-renowned cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, and his associates.
Furthermore, descriptions of how negative automatic thoughts (NATS) might interact
and affect our behaviour will be examined.
With regards to CBT are its main components. These distinctly include automatic
thoughts, conditional beliefs such as underlying assumptions [], and unconditional
core beliefs [] (Sanders and Wills, 2005). With regards to the outermost level of
cognition, automatic thoughts are reared from assumptions and core beliefs. This term
is used to describe spontaneous flow of occurrences of thoughts and images. (Beck,
1976). These thoughts or actions may not always be consciously generated by the
person, hence the word automatic.
Next to automatic thoughts are assumptions. These are sometimes called rules for
living (Simmons and Griffiths, 2013) because they function as instructions that
conduct our everyday activities and expectations. They are often congruent with
(negative) core beliefs in that the former is a means by which an individual can avoid
confronting them. For instance, someones assumption could be I need to be the
highest in my class. Related to this conditional belief is the second assumption, If I
do not perform perfectly, then I am both a disappointment and failure to everyone
around me.
are caused, again, by how events are interpreted, and not by the actual event itself.
Indeed, Beck, as a result of his findings, learned that his depressed clients persistently
and almost automatically experienced a narrow range of negative themes in [dismal
thinking] (Barnard and Teasdale, 2014). They amplified the negative, overgeneralised the bad events, ignored the positives in their lives and took things in a
personal manner. He called these particularly distorted cognitives automatic
thoughts because he realised that patients were not necessarily aware of its existence.
He then discovered that it could be branched into three groups: negative ideas about
themselves, the world, and the future (Beck, 1996).
Between these three categories, two common factors can be found i.e. the all-ornothing thinking and over-generalisation. Referring back to Jacks dilemma, because
he failed a test he concludes that he is a failure and will not be able to repeat the test
again due to his level of intelligence: I studied and gave my all during this exam, but
still I ended up failing. Because I have been taught from childhood that success
equates worth, this proves I am worthless and a failure. This black-and-white/all-ornothing thinking can harm his mental health with depression, and can even potentially
lead to suicidal despair.
Closely related to the all-or-nothing thinking is the cognitive pattern of overgeneralisation. This is exemplified, again, in Jacks situation. His failure to pass
compels him to arbitrarily believe that he will similarly fail other future exams. This
way of thinking can lead to a lack of enthusiasm to succeed academically, which
would, in turn, decrease his chances of passing anything. Thus, this self-prophecy is
inadvertently fulfilled.
From a CBT perspective, if Jack were to alter his cognitive thinking process, it could
lead to a much better result. Instead of perceiving himself as a complete failure, he
could make an honest and direct evaluation of his past performance, identify specific
areas for improvement and then, most importantly, devise ways of putting the negative
expectations to the test. It is crucial to remember that the goal in CBT is not to replace
NATS but rather to question the evidence of the fear-provoking thoughts, analyse the
self-destructive beliefs, and test out the reality of the pessimistic predictions (Beck
1976, 1999).
What first became attempts at developing treatments for mental health problems
became the landmark of a breakthrough in the world of psychotherapy. The
exploration of the key components of cognitive behavioural therapy and its model, as
well as their contributions in the development of maladaptive behaviour proved to be a
success in the treatment of clients disorders. From reading this, one can easily surmise
that the manner in which an individual approaches experiences in life can be proven
either disturbingly detrimental or blissfully beneficial to his or her mental health and
physical well-being.