Techniques of COGNITIVE-behavioral therapy
Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies and Interventions
- Create new treatment approaches specific to the client's needs
Stress Inoculation Training
Behavioral Activation Therapy
Habit Reversal Training
Exposure
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Problem-Solving Therapy
- An approach to reduce stress
- Seeks to immunize people against the adverse impact of stress by helping them successfully handle increasing levels of stress
- Stress Inoculation training has three phases:
- Conceptualization:
- Client and clinician develop a collaborative relationship
- Clients learn about stress and ways to cope with stress
- Skills acquisition and rehearsal phase:
- Teaches people to cope effectively with mild stressors by gathering information; using coping self-statements, learning relaxation strategies, changing behaviors
- In addition, people learn to apply problem solving to their fear by following the five steps:
- Problem Identification
- Goal selection, focusing on small manageable units of stress
- Development of alternatives
- Evaluation of each possible solution and its probable consequences
- Decision making and rehearsal of coping strategies
- Application and follow-through
- People implement their plans to solve problems and reduce stress
- For example: a person might initially use self-talk to address minor stressors such as being kept waiting for an appointment (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p.347)
- Conceptualization:
Behavioral Activation Therapy
- Increasing activity on a daily basis to help motivate people with depression, low energy
- Compatible with most cognitive and behavior strategies
- Helps people increase their activity levels
- Improves mood and provides a source of pleasure ((Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 347)
Habit Reversal Training
- Uses reinforcement and other behavior techniques to help people recognize ties before they happen
- Monitor behavior during stressful situations
- Uses relaxation techniques
- Perform alternative behaviors that are incompatible with the behavior they are trying to extinguish, such as tics, trichotillomania, skin scratching, and skin picking (Adams, Adams, & Miltenberger, 2008; Veale & Neziroglu, 2010).
Exposure
- One of the most important concepts of cognitive/cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders
- Client learns to identify fear responses; recognize maladaptive cognitions; confront uncomfortable feelings without avoidance; achieve self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977).
- Elements of exposure-based therapies:
- Flooding: usually provides intensive exposure over 30 minutes
- Graduated Exposure: involves having the person confront the fear for a short period of time, then gradually increasing the length
- Systematic desensitization: reduces fears, phobias, obsessions, compulsions, and anxiety (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 347)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
- Therapy combines bilateral stimulation, behavioral desensitization, and cognitive restructuring
Problem-Solving Therapy
- Provides a positive intervention that focuses on the acquisition of constructive problem-solving skills to address increased stress, relationship conflict, anxiety, mood disorders, and a variety of other issues that arise in daily life (Nezu, Nezu, & D'Zurilla, 2010).
- Four Step Process:
- Identify the problem
- Brainstorming alternatives
- Conduct a cost/benefit analysis of possible solutions
- Monitoring and evaluating outcomes (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 350)