Biological and Cognitive Approaches to Mental Disorders - Essay Example

? Comparison and contrast of the biological and cognitive behavioral approaches to mental disorders al affiliation The realms of cognitive psychology ponder on the notion of exploration and recognition of the internal processes of the human mind. The word cognition connotes ‘knowing’ and the psychologists stress on the knowledge archetype with the inculcation of information exchange within the human mind (which the behaviorists generally call stimuli), including perception, attention, language, memory and thinking and consequently residing on this treatment base structure, analyses the treatment ramifications. Cognitive psychology became one of the influential courses of study in the mid 1950s and became quite dominant by the late 1970s; the infiltration of computers led to the revolutionary changes in the investigation of the complex human mind (McLeod, 2007). Cognitive-behavioral therapy One of the core areas of treatment in the cognitive psychology paradigm is the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It is by and large a psychological treatment utilized in the study of interaction of the way of human thinking, feelings and behavior. CBT is a time limited approach of treatment and surrounds on a structured way of intervention adapted with meticulous research. Empirics and evidences reveal that CBT is has been effective in the treatment of many common mental disorders (Somers & Queree, 2007, p. 3). “Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has a wide ranging empirical base, supporting its place as the evidence-based treatment of choice for the majority of psychological disorders” (Daison et al, 2010, p.46). Biological Paradigm In the last few decades, the biological researchers have contributed immensely to the progress of brain-behavior relationships and also the role of genetic factors in the treatment of the mental disorders. But one of the critical points in the biological paradigm is the process of reductionism which states that studies of everything should be reduced to its basic elements or its constituents. The development of the cognitive behavioral paradigm is regarded as the more convenient and evident based approach of treatment (Daison et al, 2010, p.46). In this paper, the discussion will center on the pros and cons of the cognitive-behavioral approaches with the intersection of in-depth analyses of anxiety disorders, depression, and eating disorders along with their effective treatment. Anxiety Disorders Anxiety disorders are generally attributed by Sigmund Freud as neurotic anxiety and are sometimes the perfectionism and conscientiousness of moral anxiety. The common symptoms of the anxiety disorders are excessive anxious feelings and exaggerated worry in the mind with time. Worries and anxiety are part and parcel of life but the people suffering from anxiety disorders live their lives with unrealistic fears and worries resulting in the onset of pessimistic attitude which are sometimes blown out of proportion in the reality. Other disorders which the people suffering from the anxiety experience are various physical abnormalities like trembling, muscle tension, and nausea (“Understanding Generalized Anxiety Disorder”, 2008, p.6). Techniques used in the treatment of the anxiety disorders are over learning, simulation, and role playing, addition of several coping strategies in the progress towards in-vivo implementation, provision of new response set to the ongoing problems, coping skills which initially begins with the external verbalization resulting in its subsequent decrease with the internalization of the procedure and behavioral coping skills through graded practice or rehearsals (Morrison, 2009). The basic advantages in curbing the anxiety disorder in the CBT therapy is that it includes step by step process from the identification of the negative thoughts, challenging those negative thoughts and then ultimately replacing those negative thoughts with realistic thoughts. After these procedural steps, the recovery process is executed through repeated exercises, relaxation techniques, biofeedback and hypnosis (“Therapy for Anxiety Disorders”, n.d.). The limitations of the process can be attributed to the fact that the specific role of the cognitive processes is yet to be determined and the maladaptive cognitions encountered in the psychologically disturbed people can be a consequence rather than a cause. The cognitive model is narrow in scope as thinking is only a part of the human functioning and broader issues are required to be incorporated (McLeod, 2009). Depression Depression is a very common psychological problem experienced by a large number of people at some time or the other in their lives. Depressed mood is without any doubt very costly to the individuals, as well as the society as a whole, in terms of the quality of the life (“Actions against depression”, 2004, p.9). The cognitive features of depression depict the symptoms including loss of concentration and memory with exaggerated focus on negative things and beliefs often leading to suicidal tendencies among the people; the young people are mostly prone to these disorders (Hirsch, Webb & Jeglic, 2011, p.1). The biological characteristics of depression are found in disrupted sleep, loss of appetite, lack of interests in sexual activities, fatigue or tiredness during the day. Depression may also increase with the increase in the anxiety and feelings of anxiety and disorders and a sizeable part of the people affected from depression occurs from addiction in drugs and alcohol (“Depression”, n.d.). The two of the unique and common forms of depression are the bipolar and unipolar depression. In case of the bipolar depression, the symptoms which are basically seen in the people are elevated manic moods which results in the abnormally depressed states and in case of unipolar disorder the characteristics are generally found to be of varying degrees of states of sadness, disappointment, loneliness, hopelessness and guilt. It is relatively a common mental health disorders with an estimated figure of 3.5 million in the United Kingdom (UK) (“Unipolar depression”, n.d.). Both behavior therapy and cognitive behavior therapy are among the common treatments that are used in the treatment of the depression. The behavioral treatments usually help the patients in the engagement of the healthy life activities consistent with one’s values of life. The cognitive behavior therapy incorporates the development of behavioral skills with the focus on the correction mechanism of the flawed thinking patterns of depression. Majority of the people suffering from depression will reap the benefit from participating in the cognitive behavioral therapy. People suffering from severe depression may sometimes require antidepressant medications. Sometimes behavior and cognitive theories are combined for generating long lasting effects (“Depression”, n.d.). There is still much to learn the impact of the different psychotherapies including the cognitive behavior on the long term course of psychiatric illnesses. There is also a rising uncertainty about the efficacy of the varied psychotherapies. The therapy works well in the university based clinical trials but the evidences questions about the real life implications of the practices. It is the case that the leading cognitive behavior therapists have started to question the aspects of their discipline and also the exploration of their limitations. Some theorists argue that the patients with borderline personality disorder are improbable to be successful (Holmes, 2002). Eating disorders Eating disorders are generally characterized by the obnoxious consequences in the eating behavior of the persons which results in the adverse psychological and physical consequences. Anorexia is one of the most prevalent eating disorders. According to the American Psychiatric Association within a range of 0.5 to 3.7 percent women are recorded to suffer from anorexia. It is generally an eating disorder where the people are generally found to starve themselves and become extremely thin and they remain convinced that they are overweight and is generally a kind of psychological mania. It is a life threatening disease with more than 10% dying from it. The techniques which are used in the treatment of the disorder include the nutritional counseling in order to establish a balanced diet regime with an expectation of weight gain. Use of behavioral approaches and family therapy are also used for treating this disorder (Somers & Queree, 2007, p.86). The people often prefer CBT over the antidepressant medications and fewer people refrain from the CBT treatment than the anti-depressant medications (Somers & Queree, 2007, p. 90). But still CBT for anorexia has not been vehemently studied and also the criticisms of its effectiveness represent a wide spread issue. There are, in fact, only well recognized studies of CBT for the anorexia treatment. The behaviorist approach concentrates on the here or now approach, rather than exploring the patients past medical history, but the theory has also been criticized on the ground that assumes the human behavior to be mechanical and regards them as the synthesis or products of some stimulus response behavior (Somers & Queree, 2007, p. 88). Conclusion The complexities of the human mind evolving detestable mental outcomes have been long inflicting the mankind with adverse effects in the form of depression, anxiety and eating disorders among an innumerable array of various mental disorders. Medical science has brought with it varied forms of remedial measures including cognitive behavior therapy and behavioral approaches in order to curb down the evil effects. However, making an in depth scrutiny, it has been found that the approaches applied to the above mentioned three mental disorders bear their respective strengths and weaknesses. We are generally entering into post-cognitive behavior therapy era and the complexities of the human mind are getting more enhanced. Thus, an optimal combination of both the cognitive behavior therapy and biological approaches are to be inculcated for attaining effective outcomes. References Actions against depression. (2004). European Commission, Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://ec.europa.eu/health/archive/ph_determinants/life_style/mental/docs/depression_en.pdf Daison et al. (2010). Abnormal Psychology. John Wiley & Son, Canada. Depression. (n.d.). Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://www.abct.org/docs/members/factsheets/depression%200707.pdf Hirsch, J., Webb, J. & Jeglic, E. (2011). Forgiveness, Depression, and suicidal Behavior among a diverse sample of college students. Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://faculty.etsu.edu/hirsch/forgive_dep_suicide.pdf Holmes, J. (2002). All you need is cognitive behavior therapy? Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1122202/ McLeod, S. (2007). Cognitive Psychology. Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.html McLeod, S. (2009). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-therapy.html Morrison, A.K. (2009). Cognitive Behavior Therapy for People with Schizophrenia, 6(12), pp. 32-39, Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2811142/ Somers, J. & Queree, M. (2007). Cognitive Behavioral Theory. Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library/publications/year/2007/MHA_CognitiveBehaviouralTherapy.pdf Therapy for Anxiety Disorders. (n.d.). Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/anxiety_therapy.htm Understanding Generalized Anxiety Disorder. (2008). An international mental health awareness packet from the World Federation for Mental Health. Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://www.wfmh.org/PDF/GAD%20Body-Toc%20cx.pdf Unipolar depression. (n.d.). Retrieved June 11, 2012 from http://a2psychology101.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/3-6-unipolar-depression.pdf Read More