Types Of Cognitive Therapy: What They Are And What Are Their Characteristics
The way we think, in which we process information from our environment and convert it into our own mental schemas, conditions us when it comes to feeling and acting. Such is the weight of our thoughts that the generation of distorted ideas can lead to some type of psychological condition such as anxiety or depression.
This fact was what drove the creation of different types of cognitive therapies Thanks to them, the patient can learn effective skills and strategies that help him modify the way he thinks and, therefore, the way he feels and behaves.
The term “cognitive” refers to the person’s thought processes, including includes attention, learning, planning, judgment and decision making Therefore, cognitive therapy is a type of psychological therapy that considers that some mental and emotional disorders or conditions are closely linked to cognitive processes.
This means that, according to the theories that frame the different types of cognitive therapies, people suffer and develop psychological conditions due to the way in which they interpret the environment and the events that occur to them and not due to the nature of these in themselves.
Therefore, the mission of psychological intervention through cognitive therapy is for the patient to be able to find flexible, functional and adaptive interpretations of life events that he experiences.
Other interpretations of cognitive therapy describe it as the practical implementation of cognitive psychology, which supports a psychological conception in relation to the different mental processes and from an intrapsychic point of view. In other words, it is understood that there are a series of different elements within the mind of each person that makes them different from the others.
The choice of one type of cognitive therapy, to the detriment of another, is usually subject to recognition of the patient’s different needs. The different types of cognitive therapy are only intervention techniques, but rather they make up a whole network of applied science which can take different forms depending on the objectives to be achieved.
Throughout the history of psychology, different types of cognitive therapies have been developed. However, there are two that stand out above the rest, these are Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy, which emphasizes automatic thoughts and cognitive distortions; and Albert Ellis’s rational emotive behavioral therapy, in which irrational ideas are worked on.
Both cognitive therapies encompass a whole set of therapeutic techniques and strategies, as well as a methodology that distinguishes them. But always adjusting to a scientific and rigorous method.
1. Cognitive therapy by A. Beck (CT)
Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy is a type of psychotherapy, developed in the 1960s by the American psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck. This type of therapy is based on the cognitive model, which establishes that thoughts, feelings and behaviors are closely connected and, therefore, people can overcome their difficulties and achieve their goals identifying and changing unhelpful or incorrect thoughts.
To achieve such a modification, the patient must work in collaboration with the therapist to develop all kinds of skills that allow him or her to identify distorted thoughts and beliefs and then modify them.
In the beginning of Beck’s cognitive therapy, he focused on the treatment of depression by developing a list of mental errors or cognitive distortions that caused the depressed mood These included arbitrary inference, selective abstraction, overgeneralization or amplification of negative thoughts and minimization of positive ones.
However, with the advancement in the practice and research of this type of therapy, it has been observed that it can be extremely effective in the treatment of many other psychological and mental disorders, among which we find:
Method: cognitive restructuring
The way in which the professional gets the person to learn and practice these skills independently is known as cognitive restructuring.
Cognitive restructuring consists of an intervention technique in which the patient identifies and questions his or her irrational or maladaptive thoughts, known as cognitive distortions. The steps to carry out cognitive restructuring include:
Halfway between cognitive therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy we find Ellis’s rational-emotive-behavioral therapy. This was first exposed in 1950 by the American psychotherapist and psychologist Albert Ellis, who was inspired by the teachings of different Greek, Roman and Asian philosophers to develop this type of cognitive therapy.
Also known as rational therapy or rational emotive therapy, it consists of an actively directed, philosophical and empirical therapy that focuses on the resolution of emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances; and whose objective is to ensure that the patient leads a happier and more satisfying life.
One of the fundamental premises of REBT is that The emotional changes that people experience are not due to the circumstances that cause them but to the way in which the points of view of these circumstances are constructed through the use of language, beliefs and meanings.
In REBT, the patient learns and begins to apply this premise through the ABCDEF model of psychological disturbance and change. The ABC model maintains that it is not the adversity (A) that causes the emotional consequences (C), but also the irrational thoughts that the person (B) creates in relation to the adversity. Adversity can be understood as both an external situation and a thought, feeling or other internal event.
Thanks to this type of therapy, the person can Identify and understand the illogical or erroneous interpretations and assumptions you make to, thus, question them (D). Finally, creating (E) healthier ways of thinking leads people to new feelings (F) and behaviors more appropriate for the circumstance (A) being addressed in therapy.
By using various methods and cognitive activities based on dialogue and Socratic debate, the patient can achieve a new way of processing information; that is, thinking, much more favorable, constructive and emotional.
Relationship with cognitive-behavioral therapy
If we take its name into account, we can deduce that cognitive therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy have certain common aspects. Traditionally, a difference is made between both types of therapy, taking into account the level of inference and the starting theoretical framework, whether cognitive or behavioral.
The classical cognitive current supports the idea that within cognitive and thought processes we find an explanation for our behaviors. On the other hand, according to the behavioral approach, the motives or reasons for our behavior can only be supported by the environment and not by cognitive arguments. So both have different starting points.
However, the premises of the cognitive-behavioral approach establish that there is an intimate relationship between behavior and cognition. Starting from the idea that cognition, behavior and affect or emotion are interrelated, and that by making a change in any of the three we will also be able to modify the other two aspects of the person.
