Practical Application of Cognitive Therapy Techniques

This paper reviews six practical techniques of administering cognitive therapy namely validity testing, cognitive rehearsal, guided discovery, journaling, homework assignments, and modeling in a group or individual session (Ford-Martin, N. d). This is to highlight their workings, how they can be used, and the pros and cons of each technique. In this way, cognitive therapist and other individuals can understand the best cognitive therapy techniques that they should apply to large crowds, to people in stressful social and work environments, to people who are very private, adolescence who tend to do the opposite of what they are told, depressed people who need guidance on how to get out of it themselves, and for any patients who need to rehearse learnt strategies in their natural environment.

The Cognitive Therapy Techniques And Their Applications. This technique is most commonly used for patients who have phobias of varying nature. On the other hand, covert modeling utilizes the patient’s imagination rather than observing (Kazdin, 1974), where the therapist describes an imaginary situation in detail then he or she asks the patient to imagine themselves overcoming the challenge through their imagination or to imagine themselves acting in the way they think a person who they look up to would act. Finally, symbolic modeling utilizes virtual models or models not physically present, to demonstrate desired behaviors. For example, the therapist may share videotapes, plays or picture books to demonstrate desired behavior. Transfer Enhancers It is expected that the learned behaviors will be utilized in real life situations, so therapists typically give the patient transfer enhancers which increase the chances of the patients to utilize the new training(Pedersen, 1985).

Application Of Cognitive Rehearsal Cognitive rehearsal is a technique that is most effective to be applied in stressful social and work environments. For instance, a study by Barton highlights that approximately one-third of new nurses report experiences of harassment and bullying at the workplace. The results of these include a decrease in productivity, burnout, and thoughts of quitting (Barton, N. d). Cognitive rehearsal then comes into play in that it helps equip such people or patients on how to handle such situations so that they can be self-sufficient. Sometimes, the patient may prefer an audio journal in the case where they feel like they would like to capture their thoughts in the moment that they occur (Kala, & Jain, 2014). Additionally, the journal can be made online so that it helps and inspires other people facing similar struggles.

Further, journaling can be done in more creative ways. The first is the utilization of letter writing where the patient writes a genuine letter about the issues they are experiencing either to themselves or to others with the goal of unearthing their true feelings and emotions on the topic. Secondly, the therapist can enforce timed journal entries where the patient is allotted a brief period to write about a topic. Such situations highlight the effectiveness of journaling to suit private individuals. Guided Discovery Guided discovery uses the therapist to ask the patient a series of questions that guide the patient into discovering their own cognitive distortions (Ford-Martin, N. d). The types of questions that are utilized have four goals. The first is to gain information.

Validity Testing Validity testing is a cognitive therapy technique where the therapist tests the validity of a patient’s thoughts or beliefs (Goodman, 2016) by asking the patient to defend some of their beliefs and thoughts. In this way, the patient is challenged into producing objective evidence to support their thoughts and beliefs, so that faulty assumptions and invalid thought are exposed. The positive of using this technique is that the patient feels as though they found their own solutions rather than they “were told” what the problem is. The challenge however that is the patient may be unreceptive and uncooperative. They may be too stuck to their thoughts, feelings and closed to the soul-searching experience such that the exercise is rendered useless.

The third requires the patient to read articles or books and journals that have appropriate themes that fit within their therapeutic goals. Finally, the patient may be required to make audio recordings. Challenges Of The Homework Technique The challenges, however, are that the patients may fail to do their homework because they have been forced into seeking the therapy in the first place. So meeting the external mandate does not actually mean that they are motivated to attend the sessions or to do the assignments. In other circumstances, the patients may feel that the homework is too challenging for them to complete. References Barton, J. (N. d). Cognitive rehearsal as strategy to assist new graduate nurses with bullying, harassment and horizontal violence: a pilot study.