Advantages And Disadvantages Of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Psychology is a complex science, in which there are very diverse paradigms which study the psyche from different perspectives.
Currently, one of the best valued and that has the most empirical evidence is cognitive-behavioral, which has been generating a large number of techniques in its therapeutic use.
The application of therapies from this theoretical current has a series of great advantages, but also presents some limitations and drawbacks compared to those of other paradigms. Throughout this article we are going to comment on some of the main advantages and disadvantages of cognitive-behavioral therapy, in order to learn from them and assess how they can be improved and in what sense you can learn from other currents and developments.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is known as the type of therapy and set of techniques that are based on the cognitive-behavioral model This type of therapy is based on the identification and subsequent work on dysfunctional beliefs and thoughts that generate suffering or dysfunction in the patient, as well as their way of emotionally relating to them.
It is based on the cognitive-behavioral model, which is heir to the behaviorist perspective to which the advances of cognitivism are incorporated. This model is based on a strict methodology based on the scientific method, investigating based on empirical observation and experimentation and starting from the verification and falsification of experimental hypotheses. The aim is to scientifically and objectively evaluate human behavior and the mental processes that govern it, operationalizing and making abstract constructs such as those of cognition and emotion measurable.
The main work is carried out with the cognitions and with the behaviors that are carried out, with an approach that aims to teach the patient to modify their expectations, beliefs and fears as well as alter the dysfunctional behavior patterns that arise. carried out because of these. It works through learning and modifying cognitions and behaviors, and the therapist may have different degrees of directivity in the therapy despite the fact that their role is that of guide or support in the process of change.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most valued at a scientific level and it is undoubtedly the theoretical current that is taught to the greatest degree at the university level.
A large majority of current psychologists follow or have initially started from the cognitive-behavioral approach to develop professionally. And this is because this therapy offers a large number of advantages over other approaches, among which we can mention the following.
1. Based on the scientific method
One of the most outstanding virtues of cognitive behavioral therapy is that the model from which uses an experimental methodology that allows objective analysis of the results of therapy so it is closely associated with the scientific method.
It is possible to develop hypotheses based on previous information to later test them experimentally and even replicate their results. In other words, it establishes a methodology that allows psychology to advance as a science.
2. Empirical evidence of its great effectiveness
Cognitive behavioral therapy It is the type of therapy that presents the greatest empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of the techniques and subtypes of therapy that it uses, based on the reduction of the symptoms of the different disorders to be treated.
3. Flexibility
Another of its great advantages is that cognitive-behavioral therapy is extremely versatile And we can often find how specialists in this type of therapy accept and integrate techniques from other approaches, such as psychodynamic, humanistic or gestalt therapy.
Likewise, it evolves by incorporating new ways of acting or relating to the patient (such as constructivism) as well as new theories and techniques (such as contextual ones).
4. Subject as active agent
In some paradigms of psychology, the subject is seen as a passive agent, someone who reacts to the environment practically automatically.
The cognitive-behavioral approach was one of the first in which it began to be seen that it is the subject’s own action that can lead to the overcoming or reduction of symptoms: the therapy aims to give the subject tools so that he or she can do things on his or her own. confront or modify what generates discomfort.
Our thoughts, beliefs, perspectives and abilities, as well as the way we process information from the environment, are analysable and workable from the cognitive-behavioral paradigm. It is important to work not only on the content but also on how it is reached and the structures and mental schemes that influence its appearance.
6. Highly systematized
In addition to adhering to the scientific method, another of the great advantages of this therapy is its high degree of systematization.
Although depending on the technique in question there may be a greater degree of freedom, in general the techniques used by cognitive-behavioral therapy have a fairly clear basis, structure and way of proceeding (although the therapist must adapt to the answers given). the patient).
7. Allows you to acquire skills and abilities
Cognitive-behavioral therapy relies heavily on learning as a means to generate, modify or eliminate maladaptive behaviors or mental products. Likewise, its action makes the subject acquire abilities that they did not previously possess or that could benefit from a change or training, in a way that can not only help solve a current problem but also favor and optimize adaptation and adaptation to the environment.
8. Effective in a large number of conditions
Another of the great advantages of this type of therapy is its wide applicability in the majority of existing mental disorders, and even in non-pathological situations. Thus, you can work on problems such as anxiety, depression, obsessive problems, eating disorders or sexual disorders, among many others.
Disadvantages and limitations of the cognitive-behavioral model
The cognitive-behavioral therapy model, as we have seen, is very useful and allows the treatment of a large number of mental disorders. However, It presents a series of limitations that must be taken into account. Among them we can highlight the following
1. Focus on the current symptom
Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses largely on working on the difficulties and set of symptoms that are currently present That is to say, it works from the present and what happens to us now. Although the past is taken into account and explored in order to explain the current situation, at the therapy level the causes that began the problem that afflicts the subject today are not usually directly treated.
And in many cases it is necessary to work on the elements that caused the discomfort in the first place, otherwise the discomfort may appear in another form.
Although one of the advantages of this therapy is that it works in depth on such relevant aspects as beliefs, expectations and thought processes, factors of great relevance when explaining our behaviors, the truth is that sometimes cognitive-behavioral therapy can err on the side of reductionism and to value aspects such as emotion and motivation to a lesser extent.
It is not that emotional elements do not work, but the work in this area is done from a rational perspective and not so emotional or experiential.
3. Effective, but… why?
Cognitive-behavioral therapies are highly effective and the various studies carried out usually attest to this.
However, They offer little information about why they are effective or why they can sometimes fail It has been observed which techniques work best, but little attention has been paid to why.
4. Focus on the individual: little appreciation of the context
Cognitive-behavioral therapy takes into account that the environment is a relevant factor in the origin, maintenance and even treatment of mental disorders, but tends to focus exclusively on the subject who has the problem or difficulty and leaves aside most of the contextual elements that affect the problems in question.
This limitation seems to be being solved with the application of third-generation therapies, which are gradually enjoying increasing popularity.
5. Aseptic and instrumental therapeutic relationship
In cognitive-behavioral therapy, the high value of the therapeutic relationship is taken into account, but historically it has tended to be seen as a way through which to apply the techniques In recent years, however, and especially in contextual therapies, more and more work has been done on the therapeutic relationship as a therapeutic element per se, probably one of the most (if not the most) relevant element in predicting the success of the therapy. therapy.
Some patients also indicate that these types of techniques, although effective, are cold and do not fully appreciate or understand the suffering they suffer, something that makes it difficult for them to trust them and for them to be successful.
6. Possible stiffness as a consequence
Classic cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on combating, changing or modifying the thoughts, beliefs and behaviors that cause suffering to the subject
There is a strategy of opposition to suffering, which in principle may seem positive but which, however, can push the patient to increasingly rigid behavior aimed at avoiding pain and which leads to a poorly adaptive behavioral pattern, which in turn can be the origin of new suffering.
