Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Summary

The video that I watched dealt with substance abuse counseling. It involved three different sessions emphasizing the technique of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The first session was based upon caffeine substance addiction, the second was based upon obsessive cocaine use, and the third session was based upon cocaine use as well. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the widely used psychotherapies in substance abuse counseling. Its need is a psychological and cognitive change of behavioral habits that are detrimental to the client’s daily life such as substance addiction. My interest in substance addiction is personal because a few of my family members had addictions as such which caused extreme detrimental factors to my family. I feel

The client’s use of caffeine was being abused for effects that are not regulated for normal caffeine intake; he wanted a “high” from excessive use. From my understanding, the client was not educated about excessive caffeine intake and needed help in identifying alternative forms of receiving the same “high” without using caffeine. The purpose of the addiction counselor was to help the client create new thoughts on behaviors that emphasize the negative consequences of substance use and help the client create new behaviors to receive the positive effects of caffeine without using it. I did agree with the counselor’s techniques, but I felt the process of creating new behaviors should have been tested by scenario examples. The scenario examples would make me feel comfortable and confident in the client during any instance of pressure to use; hopefully, the client would feel confident in himself from my judgment. The method that seems described from my last sentence is motivational interviewing. When the client has worked with the counselor to set goals for themselves, the motivation possibly is then increased for change. The client did not show any signs of resistance during the session and became aware of identifying alternative activities in reducing excessive caffeine use. I was impressed with how the counselor allowed the client progress at his own speed with implementing the behavior changes. I

The focus is similar to the first session consisting of identifying triggers without using cocaine and finding ways to avoid the high risk situation or cope without using. The counselor provided a lot of reinforcement to the client’s understanding of avoiding a high risk situation. If I was the counselor of this session, I don 't think there is anything that I would have changed. The session seemed more like a conversation than a technique. The counselor kept reinforcing to the client about avoiding use despite the avoidance behavior not being the best way to have handled the high risk situation. Out of the threes sessions, this one was my favorite because the client gained understanding of her addiction and what triggers