Christy Nguyen

August 7, 2015

Psychology 100

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioural therapy is a psychotherapeutic treatment, it helps patients

understand their thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors (Cherry). It is a short term

treatment, that is very specific in this case, deals with how patients think and feel about what

happened to them. CBT is often used on patients that have depression and anxiety. During this

therapy psychologists use a technique called thought tracking, which is when patients write

down what is their automatic thought when they think of an event. This helps patients recognize

their thoughts and helps them stop thinking negatively.

When the patient has these negative thoughts they are jumping into conclusion. Its a

black and white thinking, its known as cognitive distortions. The person is also

catastrophizing what they think happens to them with these thoughts.

There are a couple different categories of thoughts. Automatic thoughts are the first

thought that comes to mind, which are assume them to be true. These automatic thoughts is what

we think happen to us. Underlying assumptions is if the automatic thought is believed to be true

then what does that mean about it. To understand the underlying assumption, a method called

underlying assumption downward questioning. This method is when the person asks the question
What does that mean, if that is true?, when they have an automatic thought. Recognizing these

thoughts helps the patients understand the negative.

To stop the negative thoughts theres a technique called thought stopping, this is when

there are negative thoughts going on in the patients head and they tell themselves to stop the

automatic thoughts. Often the patients tell themselves stop out loud, or they imagine

themselves coming up to a stop sign or sitting a brick wall. Once the patient has recognized the

negative thoughts and has stopped themselves from continuing to think this way, they will start

to talk back to the negative voice.

Theres a study done by Waldron et al., to show the effectiveness of CBT on people with

various disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and problems like coping skills and social skills.

For depression the average CBT-treated case fared better than 87% of untreated cases, and for

anxiety average CBT-treated case fared better than 85% of untreated cases. This study also

suggests that For depression and anxiety in general, 53% of people showed some improvement

with 504 minutes of CBT (average of 8.4 sessions of 60 minutes) over about ten weeks and 60%

of people showed some improvement with 480 minutes over eight weeks. (Waldron et al.).

There are different ways to receive CBT, the first one is computerized CBT (cCBT), and

therapist-delivered CBT (tCBT). In a study done by Gega, Smith, and Reynolds, patients seem to

prefer tCBT, they thought it was more meaningful, in terms of developing understanding,

facilitating problem-solving and building a therapeutic relationship. The study suggests that

patients would prefer tCBT because with cCBT, they werent able to discuss or clarify with the

computer. Also, patients felt more inclined to do the task when they had tCBT because they

would feel guilty if they didnt. There seems to be a lot of criticism about cCBT, the program
shows video of other people in the same position the patient is in, it tries to empathize, not

personalized. But the patients didnt seem to take a liking to this aspect of the therapy, but they

did like the privacy that was given, they were allowed to say what they wanted without being

judged. There was a definite preference towards the tCBT, the patient in this study talked about

the benefits of a containing, accepting, and motivating therapist which helped them to disclose

personal information and to engage in therapy assignment. (Gega et al.).

When using CBT as a treatment, the most effective way is if it were to be tCBT and the

therapy must the specified for the patient, as in what specifically is the patient suffering from.

CBT is most effective with depression, anxiety, and learning coping skills.

Reference List

1) Cherry, K. (n.d.). Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT): How Does It Work? Retrieved

August 8, 2015, from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/a/cbt.htm.

2) Waldron, B., Casserly, L., & O'sullivan, C. (n.d.). Cognitive behavioural therapy for

depression and anxiety in adults with acquired brain injury. What works for

whom?Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 64-101.

3) Gega, L., Smith, J., Reynolds, S. (n.d.). Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for

depression by computer vs. therapist: Patient experiences and therapeutic processes.

Psychology Research, 219-231.