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Cognitive approach in social work
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When becoming a social worker, psychological theories and concepts can benefit greatly in order to improve professional standards. These theories and concepts include the cognitive perspective and psychodynamic perspective. The cognitive viewpoint concentrates on the way individuals recognize prepare and recover information. Cognitive psychologists are intrigued by how memory functions how individuals take care of issues and settle on choices and comparable inquiries. (L.Burton, D.Westen, R. Kowalski, 2012. p.g.19) The Cognitive theory plays an important role in improving a social workers understanding of a mentally impaired individual. This theory allows a social worker to see the patients greater values and beliefs as well as specifying their life difficulties. (Miller, 2005. p.g.53). These behaviours performed by the patient does not match social norms which gives social workers a reason to explain these behaviours caused by environmental factors. (Miller, 2005. p.g.53). A social worker would benefit their quality of work using the cognitive theory by producing a relationship wit...
Social Work is the study of people and how they interact with the systems in their environment and other people. Social Workers use theories, sets of ideas or concepts, of human behavior and apply them within their professional social work ethics to the problems facing clients in order to help them gain balance in the systems in their lives. Theories help to organize knowledge enabling social workers to help make sense of problems. There are many different theories. They have been grouped into broad categories called theoretical lenses (Rogers, A. 2013).
First of all, through this assignment, I have learned that a theory is an interrelated set of concepts and propositions, organized into deductive systems that explain relationships among different aspects. It is an overall explanation of the person in environment configuration, and helps explain why a problem is occurring. It will also provide a social worker with a set of ideas that will help the social worker get a better understanding of the problem. In addition, there are many different theories, and perspectives that are used in the social work field to empower people and to promote a positive society for all. This particular case is associated with bio-psychosocial approach
Thompson, N (2005) Understanding Social Work: Preparing for Practice, Palgrave, MacMillan (Second Edition) Hampshire (Supplementary Course Reader)
The psychodynamic theory created by Carl Jung suggest that profession a suggestive on the idea of what is right and wrong. Personal values and beliefs is strongly followed in the view of social workers in the ethical guidelines. This theory is structured on the unconscious and conscious mind set on people. Another theory is the cognitive theory, which relies on the mind’s decision to process. Social workers in the medical profession must negate their belief systems and actions when dealing with a client who want to end their lives. The reason for the end-of life situation can be other than their illness and age. A social worker must take into account the feedback of the patients and determine what they are willing to do inorder make the
Theory has been defined as, “an organized set of assumptions, beliefs, or ideas about particular phenomena in the world (Teater, 2015).” Theory is used to understand and explain possible and perceived instances, behaviors and outcomes (Teater, 2015). Social workers use theory in order to understand, as well as, introduce interventions and solutions to their client’s individual situation. It is important for students entering into the social work profession to have a base knowledge of theories, with basic understanding of their similarities and differences to appropriately apply theory in practice. The theories which will be focused on in this paper include Systems Theory and Cognitive Behavioral Theory.
Cognitive psychologists investigate processes using case studies of brain-damaged patients, these are then analysed to build models that represent normal cognitive processes. This essay will examine the contribution case studies have made to the development of cognitive neuropsychology as a discipline in its own right and draw attention to issues surrounding the use of brain damaged patients to infer cognitive functions and processes. At the same time, it will evaluate the contribution that case studies have made to our understanding of cognitive processes.
In this assignment I am going to introduce and unpack cognitive behavioural theory and psychodynamic theory. This will include the history of each theory and the theorists that discovered and developed both. I am going to link each theory to where they fit in Payne’s Triangle of Social Work as well as compare and contrast each theory. Both Cognitive behavioural theory and psychodynamic theory both support the purposes of social work in which I will cover beneath. This assignment will also include criticisms of both theories as well.
The first is social worker competence, which is if the social worker has the correct skills and training needed for the job. Second, “a lack of realistic professional expectations” (Kanter, p. 291) meaning a social worker who goes into it thinking they can save the world is more likely to develop compassion fatigue. The third factor is “cumulative countertransference responses from a caseload of clients with similar difficulties” (Kanter p. 292). The fourth factor is “Some clients elicit ubiquitous countertransference responses which tend to affect most social workers in a similar manner. For example, a chronically suicidal client can elicit intense feelings of helplessness among workers throughout an agency. A particularly unkempt client can elicit disgust and revulsion in most workers” (Kanter p. 292). For the last two factors, they both mean that it is inevitable that some transference and countertransference is bound to happen. If a social worker consistently takes cases where there is like trauma, they are going to take on the feelings of their clients. If a worker consistently has a client who has feelings of helplessness, as many children will have those feelings, they will be projected onto the worker. Lastly, “some clients elicit idiosyncratic countertransference responses which have a unique impact of specific workers” (Kanter, p. 292).
Whilst evaluating the cognitive approach to psychology there are many strengths such as that the cognitive approach takes an understanding of the influence from mental processes on one’s behaviour, focusing on an individual’s thinking patterns and their perception. This approach also relates to many known functions and operations that the human body performs such as memory and problem solving.
First, there are a few special points about these theories everyone in the social work field should know about. One is that the focus is on the application and practice vs. the explanation and prediction.
According to numerous references in the field of Psychology, a cognitive psychologist is an individual that studies topics such as thinking, problem-solving, learning, attention, memory, forgetting, and language acquisition, among several others. Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes, and its core focus is on how people acquire, process, and store information. While great research has been done within the field of psychology, there are individuals such as B.F. Skinner who criticize its strides, purposes, and research methods.
Basically, this perspective is almost the same as biological, but cognitive is based more on memory and how humans are able to process, store and retrieve information and then use the information to solve problems. In Saul McLeod’s articlem” Cognitive Psychology,” the author states,” Even the same memories from different people will be processed differently. Two individuals who went through the same events will also have different memories of those events. As a result, every individual will have a different method of action through the cognitive perspective”(McLeod, 1). What this means is that amnesia can wipe any memory away no matter how long the memory has been stored inside the brain. Psychologists can look at where the brain has been affected during amnesia and try to understand how long the memory was in before the disease took it away. Other ways that psychologists can look at amnesia is how much of the brain was affected after the incident from a seizure or stroke. For example, asking someone questions from their childhood before an incident and after a brain injury. Chances are they will forget most or all of their childhood after their brain injury. To end, cognitive is the other perspective that psychologists can use to examine
There are many models and theories that shape the practice of social work and the ways in which professional social workers engage with their clients. Most of the models and theories that shape the practice are interchangeable and closely related or intertwined ideas but the oldest models like the Remedial Model, Reciprocal Model and the Social Goals models are the foundation for social work practice and the models and theories that govern it. In order to fully grasp the concepts of any of the resulting models and how to use any model in your practice, you as a practitioner must first master the definition and conceptional use of these models in practice.
My understanding about the social work profession is one that works with a diverse group of people to better their well-being in all aspects. Social workers requires: responsibility, passion, and knowledge. The social worker has to understand their own personal cultural values, beliefs, and appreciate the multicultural identities of different people. The profession of social worker requires a lot of skills because they have different tasks and responsibilities. They are aware of social policies and programs for the diverse clients advocating.
Cognitive Psychology is focused on learning based on how people perceive, remember, think, speak and problem-solve. The cognitive perspective differs in...