Application of cognitive psychology in clinical

psychology

• Name: puspita das

• Roll:04
• Department: psychology
• Year: 2019
1. History of cognitive psychology:

a. Plato.

b. Rene descarte’s.(1637)

c. In 19th century Paul broca’s discovered the area of the brain responsible for
language production. Carl wernicke’s discovered the area responsible fir
comprehension and language. These two areas named after their founder.

d. development of the need to understand human behaviour during 2nd world war.
donald broadbendt contribution.

e.Development of computer science science would lead to parallels being drawn

between human thought and the computational functionality of computers,
opening entirely new areas of psychological thought.

f. Cognitive revolution had taken place during this period.

2.Application of cognitive psychology in clinical psychology:

As cognitive psychology mainly involves the study of thought, language , memory etc and all
other brain functioning so it is largely related to the brain functioning related disorder and also
the psychological disorders which is in turn the aspect of study of clinical psychology. Mental
disorders (or mental illnesses) are conditions that affect your thinking, feeling, mood, and
behavior. They may be occasional or long-lasting (chronic). They can affect your ability to
relate to others and function each day.

a. Information processing approach in understanding of psychopathology:

information processing is the major brain functioning, it is the process through which
we can process information from our surrounding environment which in turn helps us
in gaining better understanding of the world.

Example: cognitive defict in schizophrenia patients:

1.Thought problem.
2.Derailment of speech.
3.Working memory problem.
4.Executive functioning problem.
There can also be some speech and thought related problem of cognitive functioning
in different types of psychological disorder. As we have already seen that there are
thought disorder in schizophrenia patients which is due to the hyperactivity of the
prefrontal cortex, which is again a cognitive dysfunctioning. Derailment of thought
and speech can be found in schizophrenia patients. We can also see some changes in
personality due to the changes or disturbances in cognitive functioning .Personality is
the way of thinking, feeling and behaving that makes a person different from other
people. A personality disorder is a way of thinking, feeling and behaving that deviates
from the expectations of the culture, causes distress or problems functioning, and
lasts over time. Suppose in case of OCD patients find their thoughts to be so
repulsive and stressful that they expect terrible consequences and try to neutralize
them-thinking and behaving in a way to put matter right internally.
4.Use of cognitive psychology in psychopathological treatment:

a. CBT(cognitive behavarioul therapy): it is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment

that help an individual to change the way of thinking and feeling.

b. Neuropsychological rehabilitation: NR is a type of theoretical

framework that mainly intervention desighned to improve the cognitive emotional
and psychosocial functioning that have been disrupted due to the functional
deficits in brain. This intervention involves psychotherapy, psychoeducation,
cognitive behavarioul treatment.

c.counseling: Counseling is a process where clients are helped in dealing with their
personal and interpersonal conflicts by a third-party therapist