Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): A Case Study

This video demonstrates the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to treat social anxiety of a 14 year-old male adolescent named Andrew. His parents divorced when he was 5 years old, and currently lives with his mother. He sees his father on a weekly basis and his father is dealing with acrophobia. He was referred by his school due to his social anxiety. In particular, his difficulty speaking in class is interfering with his school work and he is in danger of failing his courses. The video demonstrates the following four major therapeutic components of CBT: assessment, education, developing coping skills, and exposure. During the assessment, the purpose is to explain the nature of therapeutic process, determine the appropriateness of CBT,

The therapist helps Andrew to identify his physical symptoms, safety behaviours, and generates a graded hierarchy of anxiety inducing situations. During the education stage, the therapist gives Andrew a handout on anxiety which explains the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral process of anxiety. By this, the adolescent starts to learn about how they influence each other. Furthermore, to strengthen his self-monitoring skills, the therapist asks Andrew to complete diary entries of his physical symptoms, thoughts, and behaviours when he is feeling anxious, thereby helping him to differentiate between the three. He is also encouraged to use coping strategies once he detects physical symptoms. Then, the information Andrew gathers is used to draw an anxiety cycle (triggers, responses, symptoms, safety behaviours) and introduce CBT as a scientific process where he could test the validity of his safety behaviours and his distorted thoughts. In particular, the therapist helps Andrew to articulate his negative thoughts that are associated with his anxiety (fear of looking like a fool) by asking him to complete the