The immediate goal of cognitive therapy is to address symptom relief, including behavioral problems and distortions in logic.Its ultimate goal is to eliminate systematic Cognitive Distortions. It is often critical to focus on a very specific problem and provide rapid relief in the first session. It works best in cases where the problems can be delineated and cognitive distortions are apparent. It produces the best results for patients who can recognize the relationships among thoughts, behavior, and feelings and take responsibility of self-help.The main emphasis of cognitive therapy is on realism and not optmism. The goal is to become "more accurate in one's self assessments and perceptions of the world and the future" (Hollon, S. D., Thase, M. E., & Markowitz, J. C. p. 61).
The client's beliefs
are treated as testable hypotheses to be examined through behavioral experiments
agreed upon both by the client and the therapist. The role of the therapist
is to ask questions in order to elicit the meaning, function, usefullness,
and consequences of the patient's beliefs. It is up to the patient to ultimately
decide whether to reject, modify, or maintain personal beliefs by
weighing the emotional and behavioral consequences.It is never the intent
of the therapist to exhort or cajole the patient to adopt a new set
of beliefs.Unlike what many people think, cognitive therapy is not the
substitution of negative beliefs by positive ones. Cognitive therapy does
not maintain that problems are imaginary either. It is the patients biased
views of themselves, their situations, and resources that jeopardize their
well-being. The role of emotions in cognitive change is to enhance learning
of new ways to cope with environmental stressors, but the emphasis is always
on the primacy of cognition in promoting therapeutic change. During the
initial sessions, the therapist builds rapport with the client and focus
on eliciting essential information. A list of defined problems is generated
and misconceptions about therapy are clarified by the therapist (Beck,
A., & Weishaar, M., p.299).
Three Fundamental Concepts of Cognitive Therapy are:
Collaborative empiricism:
therapist
and client become investigators by examining the evidence to support or
reject the patient's cognitions.
Empirical evidence is used to determine whether particular
cognitions serve any useful purpose.
Socratic Dialogue:the major therapeutic device is questioning through the Socratic method, which involves the creation of a series of questions to a)clarify and define problems, b) assist in the identification of thoughts, images and assumptions, c)examine the meanings of events for the patient, and d) assess the consequences of maintaining maladaptive thoughts and behaviors.
Guided Discovery:therapist elucidates behavioral problems and faulty thinking by designing new experiences that lead to acquisition of new skills and perspectives. Through both cognitive and behavioral methods, the patient discovers more adaptive ways of thinking and coping with environmental stressors by correcting cognitive processing.
In a nutshell: "Cognitive therapy
is present-centered, directive, active, problem-oriented."