Discuss Cognitive Treatments of Abnormality

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) challenges the patients negative thoughts and replaces them with constructive positive thinking which leads to healthier behaviour. People rarely realise that they have a problem with their thinking so this is the main thing that therapists work on - making the maladaptive thoughts conscious. The therapist should challenge these thoughts, once made obvious to the patient, which would lead to them understanding that there is no basis for them to think in a negative way - effectively making the problem disappear. CBT works by the therapist helping their client identify the negative thoughts they have about the word, themselves and the future. The client also learns what the consequences of these thoughts are/could be. This can be done by the therapist asking them to focus on a time when they did manage to get work in before a deadline and how good they felt. The second stage of CBT requires the therapist to challenge any negative beliefs the client may have by pointing out positives that contradict them. This energizes them to look at the situation in a more positive way than they were before, leading to a new behaviour being portrayed due to their change in thought processes. Cognitive behavioural therapy has been shown to positively affect many disorders, including phobias and depression. This shows that the cause for some disorders originates from negative thought processes. Another strength to CBT is that there are no side effects and it has been proved to have longer lasting results than drug treatments do for certain disorders. However, this form of treatment requires commitment that would not be possible if you had a busy daily life and were not able to complete the exercises given by the therapist. Although, this treatment is prefered by many due to the fact it comes with no side effects and is longer lasting than drugs

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