Case Conceptualization: Cognitive Therapy

Case Conceptualization: Cognitive Therapy Much like most prominent theorist that came after Sigmund Freud, their initial drive was to enhance or disprove his theory of psychoanalysis; Aaron Beck was no exception. Going up in an environment with a depressed mother and anxiety and phobias of his own, Beck worked hard to disprove his own negative assumptions that he was not good enough due to his illness. While his initial major was English and political science, Beck instead turned his attention to the medical field (Murdock, 2013, p. 315). Along the way his focus changed again, and through this period Beck became interested in psychiatry, especially focusing on studies surrounding depression. Although Beck began his observation from a psychoanalytic perspective, he began to question Freud’s claims in terms of patients suffering from depression. Freud’s assumption was that patients suffering from depression was, “…anger turned inward” (Murdock, 2013, p. 315). However, through his research on the matter, Beck discovered that: …depressed patients’ dream lives were filled with less hostility than those of non-depressed patients, and further, that in their dreams patients were generally “rejected, deserted, or thwarted,” by others. He thus decided that instead of suffering from anger turned inward, these patients were suffering due to an exaggeratedly negative view of themselves, their world, and their future” (Thoma, Pilecki, & McKay, 2015, p. 429). This new development helped advance Beck’s formulating theories on thoughts and emotions, which would ultimately become Cognitive therapy. In fact, the cognitive perspective implies that, “…our emotions are behavior are the product of our perceptions of situations- the way you think affects the way you feel” (Murdock, 2013, p. 319). While most literature and journals pin cognitive and behavioral theories together, Beck focused solely on cognition and the effects it can have on an individual. His idea was that negative thoughts have the ability to change a person 's feelings or outlook of a particular situation. He also asserted that an individual 's core beliefs have a tendency to affect their mood and mental well-being (Murdock, 2013). Negative automatic thoughts, such as “I am a failure,” or “There is no hope” demonstrate negative core belief that a person can have, which can lead to depression if not properly corrected. Given the fact that the origin of Beck’s theory formulated based on his disagreement with Freud’s interpretation on what leads to depression, it is safe to say that this therapeutic method is viable for clients, such as Olivia who suffer from depression as well as benefit clients suffering from anxiety and other similar mental disorders (Murdock, 2013). …show more content…
Research studies have shown has that a high amount of clinical trials and assessments using a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapies have been shown to improve the quality of life for clients suffering from depression and anxiety disorders. In comparison to drug therapy and other therapeutic perspectives, cognitive therapy has been shown as more effective and producing better results (Murdock, 2013, p. 344). Also, inventory scales, such as the Beck Depression Inventory has been proven to have benefited the outcomes and effectiveness of cognitive therapy (Thoma, Pilecki, & McKay, 2015, p. 430). With the good also comes the bad due to its often solution-focused view. Murdock (2013) asserts that cognitive do not please much focus on the whole picture; on the contrary, they work with clients to examine their thoughts but are not relatively interested in their backstory and fail to properly address the “emotions” side of things (p. 342). Interventions The client being assessed is Olivia Gomez, a 33 year old female who has battled against depression for quite some time. Her relationship with her family was not …show more content…
338). In other occasions the therapist has the client take the thought recording worksheet home to complete it there and later return it to examine what has been recorded. The worksheet includes the problem, what was the automatic thought, what adaptive response is attached to those automatic thoughts, and what is the result or outcome. The general idea around this process is to assist the client in their own automatic thoughts, acknowledging the emotions associated with those thoughts, and ultimately helping the client learn to balance out their thoughts so that it helps in modifying their mood (Murdock,