The Application of Cognitive Behavioral Theory in Counselling

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) has taken root in many counselling centres in the modern world, more so for treating patients with depression, anxiety, eating disorders and substance abuse. CBT helps people recover from conditions that make people lose their character and perceive life as meaningless due to the issues they encounter. The good thing about CBT over therapy models is that it can be found in the therapeutic relationship established between a client and therapist, and techniques that aid to transform cognitive distortions.

Despite there being numerous studies on the strengths and uses of CBT that are positive in most cases, this paper discusses the weaknesses; emphasizing therapist training, treatment of the patient and the long-term results. The paper does this by taking into consideration a video between a therapist and a client who had mixed feelings (furious, stressed and many others) after his sister disclosed his relationship status to his parents. Through their, the therapist employs techniques like though records to help the client recover from his condition. Despite the client expressing the help he got from the therapist, he narrates of his fears throughout the conversation given the fact that the session was being recorded.

In most cases, people find themselves in situations where they need a therapeutic relationship on the basis of guidance, support and empowerment. This type of relationship can be provided to clients by their cognitive behavioural therapists. Through this relationship, clients learn on new ways to approach the unwanted aspects of their lives- starting with the way they reason and perceive the environment around them. CBT therapy movement has become very popular in the past few years, for being a successful way of counselling clients in their time of need.

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Its technique of adopting time-limited approach is beneficial to many clients; though there is a contradiction of the long-run results for some types of depression and anxiety. Despite the weakness associated with CBT still provides the therapist with the flexibility to train their clients on how to approach mental wellness on the basis of their personal abilities and needs. In this context, a client presents an issue of where he got into an argument with his sister after she told his dad about his relationship break up.

The client is furious about her sister decision as we can see him trembling in the video. The incident affects his life in the sense that he begins feeling because they had agreed that it should remain a secret. The client was betrayed and he ends up feeling betrayed. The anger in him made tears came down as he could not hold it any more. Despite being loyal to her sister, she still goes ahead to betray him. This brings the feeling of failure because the clients feel like he should have moved out and settled with his girlfriend. The therapist employs CBT therapy to help the client get over the issue and control his adrenaline which had risen at that midst of the occasion.

General Therapeutic and CBT Competencies

The therapist employed a wide range of generic CBT skills to ensure that the client got maximum help from the conversation. Generic competencies in CBT are those that are employed in the psychological therapy. For instance, the therapist used a theoretical model that demonstrated the ability to build a trusting relationship with the client. In the video, the therapist gets the client to tell him what he was going through, what he felt after the incident of betrayal by her sister.

This portrays good therapist-relationship because if the therapist was not competent enough, the session would not have been a success since it was being recorded. The therapist shows competence in the discussion as he gives the client good time to explain their feelings and helps them out whenever they are stuck by reframing the question in a simpler manner. For instance, when he asks about the adrenaline, the client is not in a place to answer so he shifts to ask the client to rate his anger.

Through the exchange, the therapist gets the client talking about his experience after the betrayal occurred until his emotions are regulated from the 70s to 30. He employs a high level of therapeutic competence which helps the client control his emotions and anger and establish a mechanism of coping with the situation that had seen him consider himself a failure. By the end of the video, the client says that he does not feel furious and anger like before. At this moment, we see the therapist notices that they are out of time and asks the client of the how he feels and whether he will be able to cope with the situation. The therapist advised the client on how he can cope with the occurrence and recover from it.

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