Disadvantages Of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

1.0 INTRODUCTION Cognitive Behaviour Therapy has its origins in the Mid1950s, with the work of Albert Ellis, a clinical psychologist (Froggat, 2009). Ellis was trained in psychoanalysis, he observed that his clients got better when they changed their ways of thinking about themselves, their problems, and with the world. Ellis reasoned that therapy would progress faster if the focus was directly on the client’s beliefs, and developed a method now known as Rational Emotive Behaviour therapy (REBT) (Froggat, 2009). In 1960s Aaron Beck previously trained psychoanalyst developed cognitive therapy approach (Froggat, 2009). Aaron Beck observed impact of parents’ belief systems on the psychological functioning, the effects of maladaptive thinking

The approach uses the concept of traditional CBT, has a strong psych educational element and consist of twelve two hours sessions over 8 weeks. Whitfield observed advantages and disadvantages in delivering CBT in group format. The advantages associated with CBT groups; group can treat more people at a time, Groups can be less stigmatising, there is opportunity to learn from experiences and homework tasks of the other group member, CBT groups incorporate a ready audience which can be utilized for exposure and behavioural experiments, the view of other group members often carry more weight or are viewed as more neutral then the views of the therapist, some people feel uncomfortable with one to one professional relationship in therapy and so may prefer group, and can be useful for people who struggle with a one on one professional relationship (Whitfield,

Patients appear to benefit differently from individualised approach, while others appear to do very well in group CBT (Whitfield, 2010). The disadvantages observed : group CBT does not have a strong supporting evidence base as individual CBT, less opportunity to tailor therapy to the individual circumstances and formulation of the therapist, less time per patient with disadvantages inherent (reduced ability to monitor mental states ), groups are less acceptable to some people, group may have high dropout rate, and it can be difficult to remove a patient when it becomes clear that their problem or personality is not suitable from the CBT group (Whitfield,