CBT Transcript Analysis - Assignment Example

Analysis of a CBT Session Student’s Name Institution Affiliation CBT Transcript Analysis The client has suffered anxiety and depression for the past one month. During the first session, she explained that she spends most of the time on the couch watching TV and could not do anything else. Following her parent’s divorce, she became anxious about the future. The divorce made her feel insecure and could always think that something bad could happen to her. This is the first treatment that she has sought and her intention is to live an anxiety and depression free life. This could enable her excel in her studies and lead a normal life. Things have improved from the previous sessions. This is inferred from the client’s facial expressions and tonal variation as she talks about anxiety. She talks with energy and seems to have made a strong resolution. From what she says, she has come to accept her condition that needs her personal intervention. The client expresses her feelings with a lot of energy. From the way she talks, she is optimistic about finding the best way to contain anxiety. Actually, she has realized that she talks much and has done very little to solve his problem. The client has resolved to face the condition and find out how best she can handle it. The goal of this session is to enhance the client’s motivation. This is achieved through eliciting self-motivational statement and listening with empathy. (0.11.31) seeing that you in a good place if you remember on our last week session I gave you some homework to go and do did you bring it today (both counselor and client smile) The counselor therefore applies Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help Client find a solution to her anxiety and depression. This approach begins with functional analysis and later focuses on the actual behaviors that have caused this condition. The assumption here is that the client’s thoughts are the major of her problem. Thus if I employ techniques that could bring about a change in her behavior, she can learn how to handle the anxiety. My goal here is to aid the client to identify her negative thoughts and successfully substitute them with positive heath thoughts. If the client can change her thinking pattern, then her anxiety mood will definitely change (Dryden, 2000). The focus of this approach is to work together with the client to bring about a change in her thinking patterns. The counselor should teach her how to overcome obstacles by engaging in fun activities. The negative thinking of the client is to be identified and addressed. Every session should be guided by well-defined goals and therapy session should be outlined (Beck, 2011). The therapist should help the client to clearly define and evaluate these goals. Therefore, this whole exercise is goal oriented. The exercise should be educational in that the client is thought how to monitor and record their negative thoughts. This would help the patient to interpret how these thoughts affect their moods and behavior. The patient should also be thought coping skills and how to plan fun activities (Westbrook et al 2007). The patient is expected to take an active role throughout the therapy session. She has to complete assignments between the sessions and talk most during the sessions. Therefore, at the beginning of each session, the previous tasks should be evaluated and at the end, assignments should be given. The counseling session should be limited to fifteen (Westbrook, 2007). In the entire counseling exercise, there is a strict adherence to the professional ethics. As a practitioner, I am entirely aware of my responsibility towards both the client and my profession. In addition to taking responsibility, I should depict accountability at all times. For this reason, the client’s needs are the most important. Therefore, in trying to find a solution to the client’s problem, I need not to make decisions based on my personal values (Hugman, 2005). Hugman (2005) recommends that the client’s values influence any decision. In addition, the client’s rights should be not be violated under any circumstances. It is important that I respect the client and his values and avoid being judgmental. Dedication to help the client solve her problem is very crucial. I try to interpret the client’s decision and put imagine myself in the same situation. Building a working rapport with the client is also very important. The client is free to share her problems. Most importantly, whatever information is gathered during counseling session should be maintained confidential. Concerning taking responsibility towards the counseling profession, it is my duty to be familiar and honor the code of our professional ethics. In everything I pursue I put effort to ensure that I portray a positive image of my profession (Hugman, 2005). In this session, I particularly choose to employ person-centered therapy. The client talks more while I listen and try to see things from the client’s point of view. As I listen, I also try to identify the feelings the feelings of the client and the emotional change as she expresses her problems. For instance am able to note that there is progress from the way Client expresses herself. Other emotions such as optimism are also noted. My goal here is to guide the client into discovering the best way to handle the situation. To help her realize that she causes the problem and it is only possible to arrive at a solution if she is willing to change (Westbrook et al, 2007). This session thus characterized by active client participation. The client does most of the talking. She expresses her problem and even talks of ways of countering it .she seem to have realized that she is the one who can solve. From what she says, she has realized that sharing the problem makes her feel better but does not really offer a solution. This way the client takes an active role in the session (Macdonald, 2007). In between the session, the client is supposed to observe her thought versus her emotions and record them down. Client failed to accomplish this though she had recorded something that could be helpful as well. To enhance learning, I suggested that she attends a development class dealing with things such as anxiety. The proposal is made as a request and the client is left to make her own choice to attend it or not to. This is to avoid imposing decisions based on my personal values on the client and respecting the client’s rights (Beck, 2011). A few challenges arise from the CBT approach employed in this 10 min session. They are due to the techniques used. For instance, a patient sometimes might experience an emotion without first experiencing a thought. In this situation, the patient may find it hard to ascertain the thought that lead to the emotion (Beck, 2011). Thus, if the client experiences such difficulties in identifying thoughts and emotions the therapy process is interfered with. This challenge might be overcome through questioning the patient. For instance asking the client, ‘what was going on your mind to be in that state of mind you are in now? From the response the client gives, it is evident that it is not easy for her to establish what actually lead to the change of his mind status (Westbrook et al, 2007). According to McDonald (2000), some clients might fail to acknowledge the CBT principles to change their behavior even when they are aware of them. The clients are aware of the principle and even agree with them but are simply unable to apply them. The implication here is that reinforcing change might take quite long than it was intended to. Repetition and practice however could overcome this difficulty. For those clients who are not motivated or willing to overcome their problem the therapist needs more time to motivate them (Beck, 2011). In this session, the client does not complete her homework. For instance, there are those who could attend the counseling sessions to obtain certain help. Whatever the motive of the patient is, the practitioner should focus on possible benefits from the counseling process. This requires the practitioner to exercise patience and persistence. Judging the client could interfere with the counselor-client relationship and place that whole therapy session at risk of ending up fruitless (Macdonald, 2007). This approach has accomplished some missions. From the way the client talks, it is evident that behavior change has effectively taken place. For instance the client has realized that it is her to change the situation people she shares the problem with cannot offer a solution to the problem. She gas also realized that her thought are the cause of the problem. Most importantly, she seems to understand the importance of sharing out the problem. She has observed that sharing the problem made her feel better. The techniques employed here however were not very effective. The assignment that was not completed by the client was meant to collect very important information about the thoughts and emotions of the client. The client’s failure to complete the assignment was probably due to my not guiding the patient on how to record down the thoughts and emotions. I also did not take time to emphasis on the importance of such tasks. This is a lesson to me if I am to use the same approach I would ensure that the clarifications are made in due time. I should also emphasize on the significance of such tasks by focusing them at the beginning of each counseling session. References Beck, J. (2011). Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond. New York: The Guilford Press.Hugman, R. (2005). New Approaches in Ethics for the Caring Professions. London, Palgrave. MacDonald, A. (2007). Solution Focused Therapy: Theory, Research and Practice. London: Sage publications. Neenan, M., & Dryden, W. (2000). Essential Cognitive Therapy. London: Sage publications. Westbrook, D., Kennerley, H., & Kirk, J. (2007). An Introduction to Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Skills and Application. London: Sage Publications. Read More