5 Useful Records In The Day-to-day Life Of The Psychology Clinic
Records in psychology were highly popularized by psychologist Albert Ellis, who developed Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT).
The use of records is one of the most used techniques for collecting relevant information in psychotherapy, after the use of psychometric scales and interview. However, patients’ recording of psychological events also has a powerful change effect, for example, facilitating awareness of thoughts, sensations and/or details of behavior.
Various records for the psychologist’s work in clinic
The choice of registry is marked by several components. Among others, the psychologist must take into account the objective of said record, as well as the level of self-knowledge of the record. Prior to patient use of records It is important that he understands the purpose of answering them and know well how to respond to them.
Traditionally these records have been provided to the patient through different templates. But you don’t always have the papers on you or some means to write them. Although an alternative solution is to write them down when you get home or a comfortable space, this is not ideal.
The most relevant information is given in the target situation, which is when the registration should be completed For example, in relation to a phobia, the perception of risk would be very different at the moment of contact with the phobic stimulus than after half an hour. Thanks to the advancement of new technologies, we currently have great solutions designed for such objectives.
One of the best solutions is PsicoReg, which apart from offering a complete management platform, makes available to patients an APP where they are reminded of appointments and can access psychoeducational content, among others. Besides, This platform has the possibility for patients to respond to all types of records via mobile phone The psychologist will be able to decide when to see the answers given by his patients, and it is highly accessible. Let’s see what these records are used in the field of clinical and health psychology, and what they are for.
1. ABC Registry (Event, Thought and Behavior)
The ABC Registry is the most used in psychotherapy This way of collecting information comes from Albert Ellis’s ABC model. A refers to the Event, B to the thoughts/beliefs (Beliefs), C to the Consequences.
An event will provoke a specific thought with a specific consequence. Thus, the patient can become aware of the effect of his thoughts and that the discomfort is normally caused by the thoughts and not so much by the event.
Once the patient is accustomed to this registry, the ABC model is usually extended by adding DE. where D refers to Debate (or cognitive restructuring / change of thought) and E to the effect of said change of thought. So, The patient is usually asked what alternative thought occurs to him and what the effect of thinking differently is
2. Registration for exhibitions
The intervention of a large number of pathologies involves exposure to different types of situations, hence this registry is one of the great pillars. This record usually begins by briefly describing the situation to which one is exposed it is also usually important to note the duration of the exposure, as well as the discomfort it has caused and whether or not you have been accompanied.
One of the skills that usually needs to be enhanced is the ability to relax. For it The patient is usually asked to regularly practice relaxation or Mindfulness as a task At the beginning it can be highly useful to record each time you perform relaxation, in order to encourage awareness of the effect of the practice and increase adherence to the technique. It is advisable to adapt the questions to the objective.
For example, if the patient controls more than one technique, it would be of interest to know which technique has been applied.
4. Record of frequency and intensity of emotions
Know which emotions are the most frequent and intense in a person It can be highly relevant information. But in addition, this type of record is also an exceptional exercise to know ourselves better and pay more attention to our emotional world. Simply write the name of the emotion, its frequency and intensity.
5. Record of obsessions and responses
Obsessions are relatively common not only in people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), hence it can be useful to use obsession logs. The data of interest will mainly be:
