Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is hard work and part of that has to do with the distress progress can sometimes create in a family system. Yeah, that's right. We're going to look at how CBT can potentially impact a family from a systems perspective. Why? Because I'm to therapy what Ninjas are to martial arts. Actually, that's not true - I feel really guilty about neglecting the blog since getting a PS4 and Killzone Shadowfall, so I forced myself to write today. CBT is also a short-er term modality, involves homework and the idea of concrete change is on the table a lot sooner than folks may expect. It is not uncommon for clients to get angry at themselves, me, their family members, God, the guy who prepares their bagels in the morning...anyone.... …show more content…
Now this does not mean that the family is the primary contributor to the client's issues. It can mean that, but it can also mean that the issues the client struggles with has, in some way, shaped how the family works. Because of the (relatively) rapid and (sometimes sort of) roller coaster type progress CBT initiates in a client, the family system the individual lives in can become a bit confused and disoriented. Family members may feel an individual is getting worse when he/she may simply be more distressed because they are taking more risks. Other times, family members may feel and express disappointment after a lapse because they were, for a time, noticing progress in a loved one. This can feel disappointing to a client who is being asked, in therapy, to focus more on process in defining success. Family members may also fall back on their old patterns of dealing with their loved one which can not only engender frustration but may create an environment that makes it easy for their loved one to slip back into old patterns longer …show more content…
Family members, like clients, develop workarounds to symptoms in ways they can live with and sometimes these workarounds are time consuming, intricate and exact. Therapists should always leave the option of family involvement on the table for clients. It's even appropriate to make it a condition of treatment sometimes. With adolescents or young adults who do not wish to have family members involved, therapists will sometimes wait until the client feels distressed enough about the family's "push back" to bring the matter of family involvement up again. Once a family is in the room I don't necessarily go through the nitty gritty details of our work but I do speak to the treatment logic that is being used and, in general terms, talk about how families can act to help or hurt the process. Sometimes family members need therapy themselves to adjust to the changes especially if the issues are tied to loss or
Therefore, Experiential Family Therapy is a non-traditional therapy. According to Goldberg and Goldberg (2012), another weakness is that, the clinicians who use Experiential Family Therapy only focus on the family members’ experiences to come out with an outcome on the problem. Another weakness is that, in Experiential Family Therapy, the therapist pushes the clients to confront their issues, and does not offer a solution. In this therapy, the client is pressed to confront heir issues and find answers to their problems, instead of helping them to find solutions for their current
Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy (CBT) emphasizes on modifying parent’s behavior and improving communication skills. According to Nichols (2013), “Consequences that accelerate behavior are reinforcers; those that decelerate behavior are punishers” (p. 186). For example, Gladys’ behavior will be regulated by using reinforcements or punishment.
One of the primary reasons I prefer to utilize CBT is due to its compatibility with my personality. I am an organized, logical, and direct individual, all of which CBT encompasses well. CBT is a highly structured therapy. Even though there isn’t a particular order to procedures while utilizing CBT, there does tend to be a natural progression of certain steps. This aspect allows me to feel as though I am leading client’s to their goals in a logical manner. Not only that, CBT has a great deal of research backing that has proven it to be effective in treating several diagnoses such as depression and anxiety (Corey, 2013). Perhaps the best quality of CBT is the fact that it is known for having an openness to incorporating techniques from other approaches. According to Corey (2013), most forms of CBT can be integrated into other mainstream therapies (p.
Gladding, S. T. (2010). Family therapy: History, theory, and practice (5th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
...n all family members get involved in trying to help. By the individual’s family being apart of their therapy session, it shows how much their family members care for them and want them to get help with whatever issues they may be having. This is very important because it is a sign of love and it is showing the support that they have for one another. Therapist have also found that during strategic family therapy, they can help all family members with helping to encourage each other as well as create rules and interactions that are psychological healthy for all family members who are involved. It will make it easier for the family members to all get along and understand each other. When one person in the family is having issues, the other members should take the time to talk to one another and help each other out, especially the family member who is in need of help.
...h it is usually short-term, it can be adapted to some lengthier timing. In addition, CBT’s techniques can provide a nice distraction and help slowly down a person’s thinking, as an example, thought logs. A person, who is not in touch with his or her own emotions and cannot articulate how they feel, can use a thought log during the week and at the next session together the clinician and the client can explore the feelings and emotional aspect. Together, my clients and I set the agenda, goals and tasks, a very integral part of the session. Once my client has begun to think and behave in a healthier manner, I provide positive reinforcement. The level of enjoyment in the progress that is taking place is a rewarding feeling when my client’s new way of thinking has given rise to a healthier way of behaving and thinking, in return diminishing her negative cognitions.
Furthermore, cognitive behavioral therapy may not cure your condition or rid you of all your unpleasant situations, but overall it can be an effective treatment and comes highly recommended. It gives you the power and tools to cope with stressful situations in order to live more positively, making you feel better about yourself and your life. CBT is proven to work with many clinical problems that plague the human condition.
Goldenberg, H. & Goldenberg, I. (2013). Family therapy: An overview (8th ed.). Belmont CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Each member of my family have to feel like the therapist is working with them if not change will not occur. The use of family mapping will help distinguish the types of boundaries that exist among my family. With the disengagement within my family subsystems, using the enactment technique will illustrate the interaction among family members. I am close to the siblings that I grew up with and my father his siblings were very close. With that being said, I will like to see the dynamic between my aunts and uncles when they are all in the same room together after years of being apart. I chose structural family therapy because at the end of the therapy session, I want the restructuring of my family structure.
The client stated that she came to therapy because she has been feeling really lonely and feeling as though that she is not enough since the death of her father. After the death of her father, her mother did not pay her any attention; she understood that her mother was grieving, especially when her grandfather passed a year later. I stated that the frequent death that surrounded her mother, seem to have caused her mother to distance herself from her. She responded “yes, and it even gotten worse when my mom started to date and eventually marry my stepfather”. She mentioned that once her little sister was born, she became jealous and envious. I emphasized with her by stating that she must have felt as though her little sister was going to take the attention that she sought from her mother. After confirming that her mother paid more attention to her sister and stepfather, she mentioned that during this time she began to cut herself in places that no one would notice. The pain did not take the feeling away, but she wanted to know that if she could still feel pain after the thought of losing everything. However, the only person who paid her any attention during this time, was her grandmother. Her grandmother showed her the love that her mother nor “father figure” never showed her. I stated, “the love that your grandmother showed was not the love you were
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment that focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors (NAMI, 2012). It is designed to modify the individual’s normative dysfunctional thoughts. The basic cognitive technique consists of delineating the individual's specific misconceptions, distortions, and maladaptive assumptions, and of testing their validity and reasonableness (Beck, 1970). By exploring thought patterns that lead to maladaptive behaviors and actions and the beliefs that direct these thoughts, people with mental illness can alter their thought process to improve coping. CBT is different from oth...
As a social worker it is often complex to determine which theory to employ in practice, each client will warrant for an in-debt assessment of the presenting problem and goals the client desires to achieve. This paper will explore one family intervention model that can be applied to the Taylor family. The two theories analyzed are Cognitive Behavioral Family Theory, (CBFT) and Structural Family Theory (SFT); both theories can be utilized when assisting individuals or families. The social worker will focus on the Cognitive Behavioral Family Therapy model when applying treatment and interventions to the Taylor family case.
“Cognitive-behavior therapy refers to those approaches inspired by the work of Albert Ellis (1962) and Aaron Beck (1976) that emphasize the need for attitude change to promote and maintain behavior modification” (Nichols, 2013, p.185). A fictitious case study will next be presented in order to describe ways in which cognitive behavioral therapy can be used to treat the family members given their presenting problems.
Structural family therapist have exemplified within the context relational therapies that uncovers stressors in relationship between individuals (Vetere, 2001). Structural family therapy has been known to be called “interventive approach” because of the “intensity” to encourage clients to change (Hammond & Nichols, 2014).
The study result also indicated more effective retention and treatment achievement for severe cases. The study results suggest a significant contribution to existing research on benefits of Family systems paradigm for engagement and therapeutic treatment.