Proposal Technique for Creating Behavior Change Essay

Proposal Technique for Creating Behavior Change - Essay Example They may succumb easily to repeated traumatic events that may be related to other experiences of interpersonal violence, including child abuse. The individual has feelings of intense fear and low self esteem. Prey to incidents of disrespect and more victimization, our client no longer expresses assertiveness. She is easily agreeable and prey to incidents of disrespect and more victimization. It is suggested that she undergo sessions cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) in order to recognize and identify the thought patterns that she has which lead to distorted feelings about herself. The therapist will use CBT in a way such that the young lady will be able to accept and internalize a positive mirror of herself, first initiated by the therapist, so that she may constructive a credible and non-destructive self image. Discussion Cognitive Behavior Therapy Cognitive Behavior Therapy was developed by psychiatrist Aaron Beck during the 1960s and 1970s. CBT recognizes core beliefs which individ uals have built and internalized over their lifetime. They are called schemas and they give rise to intermediate beliefs of rules, attitudes, and assumptions. These collections of schemas produce instant automatic thoughts that, not based on reasoning or deliberation, are immediately evaluated and accepted as true. If the schema have been developed on irrational or dysfunctional beliefs, the individual will produce irrational behavior from stimuli that could often lead to depression, anxiety, or anger. The task of the CBT therapist is to interact with the patient in a systematic way so that the patient gains confident to begin to correct irrational thought patterns. CBT is goal directed and problem solving focused. The typical regimen may involve 14 sessions, two a week that gradually disperse to a one weekly and then biweekly delivery, all over a two to three month period. There are booster sessions which can occur quarterly and some dysfunctions, more rigid, may require longer per iods. The CBT therapist interacts with the patient to initially identify automatic thoughts in the first sessions and gradually advances to evaluation of intermediate and core beliefs. Techniques include Socratic questioning, guided discovery, positive mirroring, behavior therapy and gestalt therapy. Homework assignments are made, the patient, if capable, writes out many responses. With collaboration and active participation between the therapist and the patient, sessions are structured and outlined as parts dealing with previous review, agenda (in case of new considerations), review of homework, new homework, and feedback. The patient is taught to learn to focus and identify dysfunctional thinking, to evaluate thinking validity and to set a plan of action. The patient learns to understand how thinking is organized and how thoughts influence emotions. By doing homework and practicing session techniques, the therapist’s goal is to help the patient toward self application and t he practice and use of constructive techniques. Cognitive Trauma Therapy Kubany et al have developed a version of CBT as Cognitive Trauma Therapy for battered women (CTT-BW) who face incidents of posttraumatic stress disorder (2009). They have highlighted CBT techniques of stress management, relaxation training, and exposure homework dealing with trauma responses. Guilt was identified as a major treatment target with a focus on creating