Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Solution for Mrs. Kay

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An alternate form of therapy that could benefit Mrs. Kay is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The social worker would begin with educational information on the CBT triangle, which includes thoughts, emotions, behaviors and body feelings. Since Mrs. Kay is cognitively aware she will be able to answer the assessment questions. The social workers discovered that Mrs. Kay’s main area of focus was on her belief that she could not report her pain or ask for assistance while living in an assisted living facility (Corcoran, 2014). The assessment will include a discussion of the problem behavior, the social worker will am to gain a clear understanding of the context of the problem and how it is affecting Mrs. Kay. The social worker will ask Mrs. …show more content…

CBT adopts a perspective on learned behavior, whereas unhealthy behaviors can be learned and un-learned and then substituted for more healthy behaviors. This form of therapy does not assume that people are innately flawed, rather their environment and behaviors modeled by others teach them how to behave. Another important aspect of CBT is that thoughts and beliefs influence behavior. Social scientist and their theories such as Pavlov’s classical conditioning and Skinner’s operant conditioning contributed to the make-up of the CBT. Classical conditioning explains human behavior as a response to repeated stimuli. In relevance to Mrs. Kay’s case, the crying behaviors and feelings of helplessness are classically condition. In regards to operant conditioning, human behavior is contingent on reinforcements. A reward or positive reinforcement for a particular behavior encourages the behavior to continue and/or improve. In contrast, discipline or negative reinforcement of a behavior discourages the behavior from continuing, as well as allows the person to avoid unwanted or uncomfortable experiences. Both positive and negative reinforcements can lead a person to continuing the behavior that will give them the reinforcement that they desire. In regards to Mrs. Kay, her silence and lack of request may have lead caretakers to praise her being so easy to manage and strong, which made her feel good and …show more content…

Kay with decreasing her depressive symptoms. The goal is to replace her feelings of helplessness with positive thoughts about herself, such as feeling pleased with herself for all that she has accomplished over the years. The following steps included in this intervention have been cited in Jacqualine Corcoran’s Collaborative Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention in Social Work Practice Workbook, (2014, p. 55). Step 1 is: Mrs. Kay will gain insight on her connection between her thoughts, emotions, behaviors and body feelings during a specific situation. Step 2: Mrs. Kay will identify the thoughts associated with the specific situation. Step 3: Mrs. Kay will examine the validity of beliefs. This objective will consist of the social worker requesting Mrs. Kay to provide examples opposing and favoring her belief. Step 4: Mrs. Kay will replace the irrational or problematic thought with more fundamental thoughts (Corcoran,

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