The Cognitive Behavioral Approach - Assignment Example

? LIFE CHANGING EVENT By 20th, October, A Life Changing Event My elder brother has always wanted to be a counselor. He always worked hard to achieve his dream. In school, he used to work hard and read many books related to his field of interest so that he would finally achieve his wish. Our parents were both counselors and inspired him very much. However, he experienced many hindrances, which prevented him from achieving his noble goal. One of them was that our parents were incapable of taking him to a high profile school since they did not have a high income. However, through hard work and determination, he was admitted to a big university for his undergraduate course in counseling. This was just the beginning of his long journey to counseling. After his undergraduate course, he sought after employment in many large counseling firms but unfortunately his efforts were not rewarded. This made his life difficult since he was supposed to take care of himself and help by providing for our family. Furthermore, he was invited to attend many interviews but he did not succeed. He later developed stress, depression, and anxiety caused by this condition. Due to this condition, he would not obtain a good health care policy and its benefits. In addition, other conditions related to this form such as increased susceptibility to malnutrition, mental illness, stress, and depression, developed, which contributed to low self-esteem. However, after much struggle, he was lucky enough to be employed in a big counseling firm in the country. This marked a major turning point in his life since he had achieved what he was in quest of in life. After his employment, life began to improve. He was able to earn more money that he used to meet his financial obligations. One great transformation that he experienced is that he was able to cater for his health insurance and obtain the benefits thereof. This resulted from the medical benefits that he benefited from the medical scheme. Moreover, he gained independence from relying on his parents and friends for a living. This meant that he gained much control and freedom to make decisions, which he would not make without an income. In addition, he benefited from financial security. This is because the job promised a salary at regular intervals and therefore he was able to plan and manage his time better after working hours and for his future. Consequently, he was able to save more money for our family and himself. Another benefit that he enjoyed from his newly gained employment was that his talent was put into use. This is because he got the opportunity to work in the field he loved and his mind was put into useful work. This helped to keep his mind most vigilant and helped eliminate depression that had started developing due to unemployment (Vonk et al., 2006). Furthermore, his life changed in that he made new friends in his new job. This is because he discovered that he had much in common with his new colleagues that was beneficial to them. Moreover, it created new avenues for his future benefits since he would rely on these friends in case he wanted any help. Besides, the company promised to increase his salary based on performance where he worked hard to achieve his targets. The notion of future salary increase provided him with footsteps to follow in case he wanted to work with the company in future. He also benefited from excellent staff benefits provided by the company, such as regular travelling packages, and vacations (Marshall & Turnbull, 2008). The process of employment prepared him for entrepreneurship from an employee’s perspective. This happened in that he was able to negotiate contracts with other large companies and learn how to deal with the business itself. This prepared him to become a future leader should he decide to set up his own company. This is because he learnt the policies that he should implement and those that he should not implement in order to maintain a happy working environment, which will help the business to grow. As a future employer and business owner, he learnt to model through this proven and tested work models. He wished to implement parallel models of business in future. Furthermore, as an employee, he has been exposed to varied kinds of persons from all lifestyles, and it helps in allowing him to study and examine diverse approaches to deal with customers who may be a problematic client (Kaslow & Terence, 2002). Overall, it adds up to the value creation for both businesses, the employee of the company and personal growth. He has also been able to form development teams, which engage in community development and voluntary work that help the community around him. His life changing experience can be related to the cognitive behavioral approach, which deals with mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and phobias, which he possessed prior to getting his job. The cognitive behavioral approach is a combination of two theoretical models employed to treat various conditions affecting different people. Cognitive therapy scrutinizes how negative thoughts, or cognitions, add to anxiety while behavior therapy observes how people behave and react to circumstances that trigger anxiety. The rudimentary principle of cognitive behavioral therapy is that of peoples’ thoughts and not external occasions and only affects the way people feel. This means that, it is not the situation that people are in that determines how people feel, but the perception of the situation (Frank , 2009). Various aspects of his experiences can be explained in accordance with the cognitive behavioral approach. This is because it is structured, directive, and focuses on the client's goals. This occurs in that it tends to show the clients how to think and behave in ways to obtain what they want. Examples include, stress, depression, anxiety disorder, mood change, eating habits, and psychotic disorder. Various steps can be followed in order to carry out a cognitive and behavior therapy. They include, identifying the person’s negative thoughts, challenging his negative thoughts, and replacing the negative thoughts with realistic thoughts (Taylor, 2005).  Stress One of the major cognitive and behavioral condition that he faced was stress. Stress is a negative concept that can have a great impact on the mental state of any person. One of the main causes of stress is the pressure being exerted on people by their peers and in some cases by ourselves. Stress causes the inability to function efficiently and cope under pressure (Soroudi et al., 2007). However, he has learnt the importance of cognitive behavioral approach towards stress as an effective way of dealing with stress than other therapeutic approaches. Depression Moreover, my elder brother underwent through depression. Depression is a serious mental condition that affects an individual due to the environment in which they are exposed. Depression occurs as a further development of stress and may cause serious damage to the individual. However, depression is a treatable condition through cognitive and behavioral approach. The concept of behavioral approach manages depression through setting up patterns that therapists use on the patient to schedule pleasurable activities that will provide positive reinforcement. This tactic helps in reducing the effects if the inertia, a depression patient typically experiences of depression. However, the positive experience will help the patient reduce negative thought patterns, and make positive behavioral changes (Sapp, 2004). Anxiety Disorder Furthermore, my elder brother underwent through anxiety disorders resulting from further development of stress and depression. The cognitive behavioral approach uses a treatment strategy known as in vivo exposure to treat anxiety disorder patients. This strategy uses actual exposure to the actual cause of the feared stimulus. If an anxiety patient is exposed to the actual cause of this disorder, the cognitive behavioral approach believes that the condition will be classically conditioned. This will develop a condition in the patient whereby they will cease avoiding negative reinforces and maintain the fear (Satterfield, 2008). Psychodynamic Approach My elder brother’s bereavement experience can also be explained using the psychodynamic approach as described by Freud. This is because the core principle described therein revolves around the examination and resolution of inner conflicts. The knowledge of this form of therapy helped him a lot in gaining a perspective of pure insight in order to recognize the character traits, actions, responses, and behaviors that transformed him. In order to cope up with his condition, he had to employ some methods used in psychodynamic therapy such as  free association with different people, transference, resistance and the process of addressing problems and perplexing memories, concerns, and roles in order cultivate a cohesive and supportive therapeutic relationship (Frederickson, 1998; Summers & Barber, 2009). Some common characteristics are found in the psychodynamic psychotherapy as well as cognitive behavioral approach. Other steps that he undertook to cure his situation relates well with the psychodynamic psychotherapy as well as cognitive behavioral approach. This includes placing more emphasis on the significance of intrapsychic and unconscious conflicts and their relationship to his development. In order to avoid spiteful consequences of conflict, he had to come up with defenses and procedures, which he followed. Moreover, he believed that he had psychopathology progresses especially from early childhood experiences and had to keep up fighting this persisting condition (Gabbard, 2010). In addition, he focused on clarifications of change, protection mechanisms, and contemporary signs and working through these contemporary glitches. Besides, he realized that insight trust is crucial in his inner development and used it as a therapy for his condition. However, he realizes that life issues and dynamics would re-emerge in the context of the client-therapist relationship as a transference and counter-transference. To avoid this my elder brother had to use free connotation as a chief method for exploration of internal conflicts and problems (Cabaniss et al., 2011). Works Cited Marshall, S. & Turnbull, J., 2008. Cognitive behaviour therapy: an introduction to theory and practice. Michigan: Bailliere Tindall. Cabaniss, D. L., Cherry, S., Douglas, C. J. & Schwartz, A. R., 2011. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A clinical manual. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Frank , D., 2009. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy with Couples and Families: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians. New York: Guilford Press. Frederickson, J., 1998. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Learning To Listen From Multiple Perspectives. London: Psychology Press. Gabbard, G. O., 2010. Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Basic Text. New York: American Psychiatric Pub . Kaslow, F. & Terence , P., 2002. Comprehensive Handbook of Psychotherapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Sapp, M., 2004. Cognitive-Behavioral Theories of Counseling: Traditional and Nontraditional Approaches. London: Charles C Thomas Publisher. Satterfield, J. M., 2008. A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach to the Beginning of the End of Life, Minding the Body: Facilitator Guide. London: Oxford University Press. Soroudi, N., Safren, S. & Gonzalez, . J., 2007. Coping with Chronic Illness: A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach for Adherence and Depression Therapist Guide. London: Oxford University Press. Summers, R. F. & Barber, . J. P., 2009. Psychodynamic Therapy: A Guide to Evidence-Based Practice. Boston: Guilford Press. Taylor, R., 2005. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Illness and Disability. Boston: Springer. Vonk, E., Bordnick, P. & Graap, K., 2006. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder: An evidence-based approach. New York:: Oxford University Press. Read More