Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Case Study

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “CBT helps a person focus on his or her current problems and how to solve them... the therapist helps the patient learn how to identify distorted or unhelpful thinking patterns, recognize and change inaccurate beliefs...and change behaviors accordingly” (“Psychotherapies,” n.d.). CBT is a combination of both cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy, which work together to emphasize how one’s thoughts and beliefs affects their actions and behavior. In CBT, a collaborative relationship is critical in order to properly determine the client’s distressing thoughts so that appropriate coping skills can be established. According to Murdock (2013), the main goal of CBT is to “identify and change

Next, the therapist educates or “socializes” the client by helping them understand the structure of CBT, and how positive change is expected to occur if thoughts are examined as postulations rather than certainties or facts. Once significant rapport is created and the client is provided with some immediate symptom relief, the therapist and client work to distinguish the client’s automatic thoughts. Automatic thoughts are classified as statements that appear into our consciousness quickly and abruptly, that are typically viewed as sensible to the individual. Murdock (2013) states that automatic thoughts are most easily changed in comparison to core beliefs using techniques such as: socratic questioning, thought recording, behavioral experiments, activity scheduling, grading tasks, problem solving, imagery, role playing, and homework. Overall, most of therapy is dedicated to cognitive restructuring, where therapists utilize the previously mentioned methods to discuss and question the client’s negative and distressing thoughts to further replace them with healthier, balanced

In this way, he would instead be able to associate his traumatic experiences in the war with more positive emotions, as well as adapt more conscious control of his internal thoughts and beliefs. One of the primary techniques that CBT would deem as helpful to Skinner’s distorted ways of thinking would be behavioral experiments, or exposure therapy. By exposing Skinner to specific fears and memories of the war in the safe environment of therapy, he would be able to recognize how prominently his experiences in Iraq shape his thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. For success in CBT, it would be crucial for Skinner to recognize what is contributing to his PTSD, anxiety, and depression so that he can thus reduce his symptoms and habitually use tools to cope with his disturbing memories and