Cognitive Restructuring Methods: What Are They And How Do They Work?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy has been shown to be effective in addressing multiple psychological disorders and disorders.
One of the most used methods in this type of treatment is cognitive restructuring, whose objective is to modify negative thoughts and dysfunctional beliefs that cause discomfort and emotional disturbances.
In this article we explain what the cognitive restructuring technique consists of and what are the main methods used and their differences.
Cognitive restructuring: definition and theoretical bases
Cognitive restructuring is a psychological technique used in cognitive-behavioral therapy that serves to identify and correct dysfunctional thoughts or negative. This tool allows the psychologist and patient to work together in the search for alternatives and in the restructuring of certain ideas and core beliefs that generate subtle discomfort that is difficult to detect by oneself.
This cognitive technique manages thoughts as hypotheses that must be verified or refuted through Socratic dialogue (a dialectical method that seeks to demonstrate hypotheses through inquiry and the search for new ideas and concepts), formulating questions and carrying out experiments. behavioral (such as asking other people questions, daring to act in a certain way, observing someone’s behavior, etc.) to test dysfunctional beliefs.
Cognitive restructuring is based on the following theoretical foundations:
Cognitive restructuring methods
Cognitive restructuring, as a cognitive technique, implicitly assumes the postulates of cognitive psychology that affirm that people react to events based on the meaning we assign to them; That is, the important thing is not so much what happens, but what we tell ourselves happens (or how we evaluate what happens to us).
The different cognitive restructuring methods that have been implemented over the years assume that Dysfunctional beliefs can cause affective and behavioral alterations, hence the main objective of all of them is to modify these beliefs for more coherent cognitions and functional, whether addressing internal verbal behavior (what we believe about the world and ourselves) or the core beliefs that define our personality (such as believing that we deserve to be loved by everyone).
Next, we will see two of the main cognitive restructuring methods most used in cognitive-behavioral therapy.
1. Ellis Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy
Rational emotive behavioral therapy, developed by the American psychologist Albert Ellis (1913-2007), is a brief psychotherapy method that is based on the premise that most problems and affective disorders (and associated behaviors) have their origin in erroneous and irrational interpretations that we make of what happens to us.
This therapy is based on the ABC cognitive model, where A represents the event or event that is causing us problems; B, the beliefs or interpretation we make of said event; and C, the affective and behavioral consequences (including physiological reactions) that all this causes in us.
According to Ellis, we suffer from emotional problems because we tend to generate irrational ideas about certain events. For example, believing that we need to depend on other people, that it is better to avoid certain responsibilities or that certain events are catastrophic, are just some of them.
Catastrophizing (believing that something bad that happens to us is horrible and we will never be able to bear it), thinking in absolute terms (with thoughts like “I must pass all my subjects”) and overgeneralizing (if I ride a bicycle and I fall, thinking that every time I ride I will fall), are three of the main cognitive evils that Ellis highlights in his theory.
Ellis’ approach is basically about confronting those irrational beliefs with more positive and realistic thoughts. First, identifying the thoughts that generate discomfort and are based on dysfunctional beliefs; second, using an impetuous Socratic method that serves as a counterargument; and third, through modeling techniques (imitation learning) and homework, patients learn to modify their beliefs based on what they have learned in therapy.
2. Beck Cognitive Therapy
Another method of cognitive restructuring is included in cognitive therapy developed by the American psychiatrist Aaron Beck which was originally intended to treat depressive disorders, although it is currently also used to treat a wide variety of psychological disorders, such as anxiety, obsessive disorders, phobias or psychosomatic disorders.
To apply Beck’s cognitive restructuring technique, it is necessary, first of all, to identify the dysfunctional thoughts that are generating emotional alterations through mental exercises and questions from the Socratic method; Secondly, after having identified dysfunctional beliefs, try to counteract them with methods such as hypothesis testing (with real behavioral experiments) or role-playing or role-playing. person).
Finally, In Beck’s therapy, homework is a fundamental part so that patients can practice what they have learned in therapy
In relation to the theoretical bases on which this method of cognitive restructuring is based, Beck states the following: people who suffer from affective and behavioral disorders do so due to an excess of negative and dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs, something similar to what he proposed. Ellis.
These are some of the examples of dysfunctional beliefs that are often addressed in Beck’s cognitive therapy:
It is evident that there are similarities between the two main methods of cognitive restructuring, Ellis’s rational emotive behavioral therapy approach and Beck’s cognitive therapy approach; However, it is no less true that there are also certain differences.
Both therapies assume and base their therapeutic procedures on the idea that people suffer emotional alterations due to cognitive patterns, ideas and irrational or dysfunctional beliefs that cause them. And both approaches try to modify these thoughts through cognitive and behavioral techniques.
With everything, In Ellis’ therapy, rational debate is mainly used to test the validity of irrational beliefs unlike what happens in Beck’s, which more frequently uses the method of hypothesis verification to contrast the veracity of dysfunctional thoughts.
Something that also differentiates both therapies has to do with the ultimate foundation on which each therapy is constituted; Ellis places a greater philosophical and humanistic emphasis (he is in favor of a profound philosophical change in the person) and Beck a more scientific one, which does not prevent Ellis’s postulates from also being scientifically validated.
Finally, another difference should be noted when approaching work with patients. Ellis’ approach seeks to modify irrational beliefs with more aggressive and relentless questioning, while Beck’s approach seeks to help the patient perform tasks that test these beliefs, with a gentler approach.
