Role of Cognition in Counseling

ROLE OF COGNITION IN COUNSELING TABLE OF CONTENT. Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 3 Cognitive therapy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy†¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 Characteristics of cognitive-behavioral therapy†¦. 5 Virtual Reality Therapy†¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦8 Rational Emotive Therapy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦8 Transactional ANALYSIS†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 8 conlusionâ⠂¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 9 reference†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦10 Role of cognition in counseling Introduction Cognitive therapy centers on the belief that our thoughts are influenced by how we feel.There are a number of different cognitive therapies, including Cognitive-Behavioral, Reality, Rational Emotive and Transactional Analysis. Each of these cognitive approaches to counseling can help a client through the counseling process, by providing further understanding of the way our thoughts are sometimes distorted. Cognitive therapy focuses on the present. This means that issues from the past that are influencing current thinking, are acknowledged but not concentrated on. Instead a counselor will work wi th the client on identifying what is causing distress in present thinking.What links these different forms of cognitive therapy is the way in which the counseling relationship, between a counselor and client, develops. Assertiveness exercises, role-playing and homework are also part of the supportive one-to-one sessions a client will have with a counselor. In this paper will review and analyze the role cognition in counseling. Cognitive therapy Studies have shown that cognitive therapy is an effective treatment for depression. It is comparable in effectiveness to antidepressants and interpersonal therapy or psychodynamic therapy.The combination of cognitive therapy and antidepressants has been shown to be effective in managing severe or chronic depression. Cognitive therapy has also proven beneficial to patients who have only a partial response to antidepressants. There is good evidence that cognitive therapy reduces relapse rates. In addition, some evidence has shown that cognitive therapy is effective in treating adolescent depression. Here are a number of the different cognitive therapies, including Cognitive-Behavioral, virtual Reality, Rational Emotive and Transactional Analysis. Cognitive-Behavioral TherapyThis cognitive approach to counseling is based on the belief that learning comes from personal experience. Counseling will focus on a client’s ability to accept behavior, clarify problems and difficulties and understand the reasoning behind the importance of setting goals. With the help of self management training, assertive exercises and role-playing the counselor can help a client work towards goals. Characteristics of cognitive-behavioral therapy Cognitive-behavioral therapy is based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviors, not external things, like people, situations, and vents. The benefit of this fact is that we can change the way we think to feel / act better even if the situation does not change. Cognitive-behavior al therapy is considered among the most rapid in terms of results obtained. The average number of sessions clients receive (across all types of problems and approaches to CBT) is only 16. Other forms of therapy, like psychoanalysis, can take years. What enables CBT to be briefer are its highly instructive nature and the fact that it makes use of homework assignments.CBT is time-limited in that we help clients understand at the very beginning of the therapy process that there will be a point when the formal therapy will end. The ending of the formal therapy is a decision made by the therapist and client. Therefore, CBT is not an open-ended, never-ending process. A sound therapeutic relationship is necessary for effective therapy, but not the focus. Some forms of therapy assume that the main reason people get better in therapy is because of the positive relationship between the therapist and client.Cognitive-behavioral therapists believe it is important to have a good, trusting relati onship, but that is not enough. CBT therapists believe that the clients change because they learn how to think differently and they act on that learning. Therefore, CBT therapists focus on teaching rational self-counseling skills. Cognitive-behavioral therapists seek to learn what their clients want out of life (their goals) and then help their clients achieve those goals. The therapist's role is to listen, teach, and encourage, while the client's roles is to express concerns, learn, and implement that learning.Not all approaches to CBT emphasize stoicism. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, Rational Behavior Therapy, and Rational Living Therapy emphasize aspects of stoicism. Beck's Cognitive Therapy is not based on stoicism. Cognitive-behavioral therapy does not tell people how they should feel. However, most people seeking therapy do not want to feel they way they have been feeling. The approaches that emphasize stoicism teach the benefits of feeling, at worst, calm when confronted with undesirable situations. They also emphasize the fact that we have our undesirable situations whether we are upset about them or not.If we are upset about our problems, we have two problems — the problem, and our upset about it. Most people want to have the fewest number of problems possible. So when we learn how to more calmly accept a personal problem, not only do we feel better, but we usually put ourselves in a better position to make use of our intelligence, knowledge, energy, and resources to resolve the problem. Cognitive-behavioral therapists want to gain a very good understanding of their clients' concerns. That's why they often ask questions.They also encourage their clients to ask questions of themselves, like, â€Å"How do I really know that those people are laughing at me? † â€Å"Could they be laughing about something else? † Cognitive-behavioral therapists have a specific agenda for each session. Specific techniques / concepts are taught duri ng each session. CBT focuses on the client's goals. We do not tell our clients what their goals â€Å"should† be, or what they â€Å"should† tolerate. We are directive in the sense that we show our clients how to think and behave in ways to obtain what they want.Therefore, CBT therapists do not tell their clients what to do — rather, they teach their clients how to do. CBT is based on the scientifically supported assumption that most emotional and behavioral reactions are learned. Therefore, the goal of therapy is to help clients unlearn their unwanted reactions and to learn a new way of reacting. Therefore, CBT has nothing to do with â€Å"just talking†. People can â€Å"just talk† with anyone. The educational emphasis of CBT has an additional benefit — it leads to long term results. When people understand how and why they are doing well, they know what to do to continue doing well.A central aspect of rational thinking is that it is based o n fact. Often, we upset ourselves about things when, in fact, the situation isn't like we think it is. If we knew that, we would not waste our time upsetting ourselves. Therefore, the inductive method encourages us to look at our thoughts as being hypotheses or guesses that can be questioned and tested. If we find that our hypotheses are incorrect (because we have new information), then we can change our thinking to be in line with how the situation really is.If when you attempted to learn your multiplication tables you spent only one hour per week studying them, you might still be wondering what 5 X 5 equals. You very likely spent a great deal of time at home studying your multiplication tables, maybe with flashcards. The same is the case with psychotherapy. Goal achievement (if obtained) could take a very long time if all a person were only to think about the techniques and topics taught was for one hour per week. That's why CBT therapists assign reading assignments and encourage their clients to practice the techniques learned.Virtual Reality Therapy This form of therapeutic approach works well in treating fears and phobias. This is because virtual reality therapy (VRT) concentrates on accurately duplicating the distressing situations. Counselors, who use this form of cognitive approach, during counseling sessions, will recreate situations in order to expose the client to what triggers their fear. VRT also works well in treating anxiety disorders. Rational Emotive Therapy Rational Emotive Behavior therapy (REBT) centers on the belief that human beings have a tendency to develop irrational behavior and beliefs.These are the ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’ that many people fill their lives with, and which influence thought and deed. REBT acknowledges that past and present conditions affect a person’s thinking and utilizes a framework so that the counselor can apply activating events that allow the client to identify beliefs and conseque nces. Transactional Analysis TA, as Transactional Analysis is also known, is based on the notion that our personality consists of three states of ego – parent, adult and child. During interaction with others one of our ego states will predominate, depending on the situation we find ourselves in.Certain types of behavior are associated with each of the ego roles, and using this form of cognitive approach to counseling allows the client to understand the different ego stages and how they interact with each other. conlusion In conclusion, Cognitive therapy (or cognitive behavioral therapy) helps the client to uncover and alter distortions of thought or perceptions which may be causing or prolonging psychological distress. However, there are key principles that aim counselors with the best tools to provide the kind of supportive guidance that is conducive to creating a positive counseling outcome for their clients.References David, Daniel. , Szentagotal, A. , Eva, K. , & Macavei, B. (2005). A synopsis of rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT): Fundamental and applied research. Journal of Rational &Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Josefowitz, N. , & Myran, D. (2005). Towards a person-centered cognitive behavior therapy. Counseling Psychology Quarterly Retrieved January 20, 2006, fromAcademic Search Premier. Kirschenbaum, H. (2004). Carl Rogers’s life and work: An assessment on the 100