Evaluate the approach of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Evaluate the approach of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy In this essay I will discuss the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, then I will critically evaluate the approach, with strengths and limitations, give an example of an episode that , I tried to use this approach, give the reasons in which situations I would use it. And finally what I had learned from this research and how it impacted me for future practice. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, have roots in behaviourism, as well as Cognitive therapy. In our days many cognitive behavioural therapist follow the principles from both these schools. In the beginnings of 1970s, Professor Aaron T. Beck developed a theory of depression, which promotes the importance of peoples depressed style of thinking. Becks work has changed the nature of psychotherapy , not just for depression , but for a range of psychological problems such as , phobias, anxiety, depression, anger, sexual and relationships problems, drugs and alcohol abuse, obsessive compulsive disorder, I just mention a few of them. For a successful treatment is necessary that the patient work together with therapist, and is willing to change, is vital that patient is able to recognise his abnormal thinking or behaviour. CBT is a short -term therapy normally between 10 to 15 sessions and lasts for an hour. With the help of the therapist the patient will tackle these abnormal thinking or behavio ur, by learning a different range of techniques to combat them. Abnormal behaviour is caused by maladaptive thoughts that a person can internalise in its self, this maladaptive behaviour does not allow the patient to have a normal life. As above referred CBT is mixed with cognitive and behavioural therapy They are combined because how we behave often reflects how we think about certain things or situations. The emphasis on cognitive or behavioural aspects of therapy can vary, depending on the condition being treated. For example, there is often more emphasis on behavioural therapy when treating an eating disorder because repetitive actions are a main problem. On the other hand, the emphasis may be more on cognitive therapy when treating depression. In this type of therapy the patient have to talk about his feelings, the way they see the world, and also other people. The two main techniques of CBT in a session is to the patient discuss with , the therapist about his evidence for and against negative beliefs, the second one the therapist will ask to the patient for him to test his beliefs , and change the way that he reacts to them and see what happens. The therapist helps the patient to understand his actual thought and patterns. In particular, to identify any harmful, unhelpful, and f alse ideas or thoughts which he may have, that triggers his health problem, or makes it worse. The aim is then to change his ways of thinking to avoid these ideas. Also, to help his thought patterns to be more realistic and helpful. The treatment with the patient is based in talking , both therapist and patient will work together to identify and understand the reason , for the patient abnormal behaviour , or thought . CBT does not rely on the past, but in the present here and now, therapist and patient will look at patient problem in different perspective more healthy and positive. The therapist will set goals and assignments. Strategies which are monitored and evaluated, in-between the sessions. With the techniques and the homework that the therapist had planned for him , in a situation of abnormal behaviour , or thought the patient , will recognise what trigged the situation, and how he have to behave to overcome that situation. It is important that the patient recognise what trigged the situation, and put in practice the techniques set by the therapist that will help him to change that. This therapy will make the patient more aware. The patient is also asked to maintain a diary to write down the way he thinks , feels and behaves in daily situations, emotions, automatic thoughts, logical response and outcome is also another helpful technique. It will be then more easily to break the maladaptive pattern. However as any approach in the human behaviour it has strengths, and limitations. CBT is not suitable for everyone, only helps certain conditions, it had been shown good results in treating anxiety and depression Eysenck, P.286, 1997 but is especially effective with panic disorder. Rachman (1993, p.279), As far as anxiety disorders are concerned, the greatest theoretical and clinical progress has been made in applying cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) to thetreatment of panicky. People who take medicines are a greater risk to relapse , when they stop taking them , I agree because they didnt learn to identify what triggers their maladaptive behaviour , and didnt challenge them in trying new behaviours, it is like they are frozen by the medicines, and when they stop taking them , they defrost and everything will start again . CBT is claimed to treat schizophrenia that is a very serious disorder, and that is extremely difficult to treat, and medicines are necessary for the patient, in my opinion this disorder cannot be treated by CBT. In other side CBT is extremely structured and does not focus in the past, but in here and now. However studies had shown that patients after 2 years of therapy has finished, do better than those using other type of treatments, however every individual is unique, two patients with same disorder may have different results because the degree of the extension of the disorder may differ. CBT does not take in account genetic factors, also does not take in consideration interpersonal factors like his social role, life experiences that can produce mental disorders. Another aspect is that is not clear if the abnormal thoughts can be the cause of the disorder. Secondly is unfair to blame the patient for their mental disorder, because it may be other people the responsible an example is the case of bullying is not the victim fault. Also the patient must be willing to change; he may find boring the homework, and the diary sheet. Also disrespects the patient intelligence by making the therapist, rather that the patient unconscious wisdom, the source of clear intelligence about the problem. Also the therapist encouragement to tackle this abnormal behaviour is vital interpersonal skills like warmth, acceptance and empathy will make the CBT more successful. Overall this approach is positive but is effectiveness will depend in factors, such , type of disorder , willing to change by the patient, support of the therapist, commitment to do the homework, and attend the sessions. If in my practice Im working with a service user that have a problem in low self esteem, problems in relationship, I would use this approach to set goals for the user confront his fears, in other situations like eating disorders, depression, panic attacks, the help of a qualified therapist is essential, because he will know better than me how the user is progressing, his evaluation also will more accurate, because I dont hold a degree or a masters in that area. I have a couple of friends, who had marital problems such as verbal abuse towards each other, both of them asked to talk with each other, accusing one another for the failure of the relationship. I spoke with both of them together, and asked about their negatives attitudes, and asked them why they couldnt do things in another way, that wouldnt hurt the partner. But they were both resilient to change, and admit their mistakes , in this situation I thought they needed the help of a professional, I didnt had the skills and techniques that a therapist would have, and maybe because I was a friend, they may had felt uncomfortable talking with me, in this case the commitment of the couple to recognise their abnormal attitudes was imperative, to try ad change them, my friend was stressed, anxious and depressed because of the marital problems, and she was pregnant at the time. I advice her to book an appointment with her GP expose the situation, and try counselling and because she was pregnan t, this would affect the unborn child. I now understand that in practice , I can approach a service problem with different theories , that can help me to decode and assess the user situation in a constructively perspective, if a I just rely in one single approach, I will miss other underlying problems, in the case above there was other theories that could explain certain behaviours and attitudes. Coulshed (1991.p.8) Theoryless practice does not exist ; we cannot avoid looking for explanations to guide our actions , whilst research has shown that those agencies which profess not use theory offer a non problem solving wooly and directionless service. CBT and social work. both have the aim to empower the user to control his life, in my view in certain situations, I would use this approach of course that, I need more training and skills to work effectively. Having researched this approach I learned that in certain situations with users we can use techniques and skills from different approaches, and analyse the service user situation with different approaches. I believe that will bring a deeper insight into the service user assessment of needs and resources to help him to be in control of his life again.

The K+ Channel Revisited :: Chemical Neuroscience Chemistry Papers

The K+ Channel Revisited Many scientists enter the field of neuroscience with a desire to understand how the human brain functions to create our actions. Some take a large approach and study reactions to stimulus in live animals. This approach leaves us still wanting to know about things that aren't a result of an outside stimulus. Other scientists take the minimalist approach and start by studying the exact mechanisms of individual cells of the brain. But, what good does that do us for everyday life? There is also the approach of taking our knowledge of behavior from diseases of the brain. Would we have thought about how our brain regulates our moods if it weren't for the fact that some people experience depression, in which the regulation of mood goes amiss? Many of the disease have led us to a deep understanding of the chemical interactions in our brain and body. At a very broad level, and ignoring religious discussions, we can say that every part of our existence is a result of chemical interactions . Besides giving us our substance, chemistry also gives us a mode of communication throughout our bodies. In our brain a large chemical component is that of the action potential that is conducted along a neuron as a result in the changing permeability of the cell. The axons of our neurons are the pathway for the communication that exists in our nervous system. This communication takes the form of an electric signal, also called an action potential. The action potential occurs due to a change in voltage across the membrane of the axon. The change in voltage is achieved by a change in the permeability of the neurons to the ions, Na+, Ca+, and K+.(1)The cell starts with a large concentration of potassium ions, K+, inside the cell, and a large concentration of sodium ions, Na+, outside the cell. The action potential propagates down the axon due to openings and closing of different channels allowing changing of the permeability to the differing ions (10). Channels are proteins that span the membrane of the axon. These proteins have a structure so that they can be allow ions to flow through pores that are only open at the appropriate times. Some of the channels are opened and closed by other chemicals, while some are initiated by a change in the membrane potential.

Beauty by Jane Martin Essay

We live in a country where television and advertisement is designed to entice people into always wanting more than what they already have. This enticement is achieved by feeding into the human desire for happiness. Advertisers create persuasive campaigns that inundate the public with images of societies narrow interpretation of success and beauty. These images are then presented as a precondition to the happiness that human beings are searching for. When a person’s reality does not match this narrow image, the message sent through television and advertisements is that in order to be content people need to find a way to acquire it. As a result we live in a society where people are continuously longing for a happiness that can only be achieved through things that are fleeting and external, which creates feelings of discontentment In the satirical one-act play â€Å"Beauty† by Jane Martin the two sole characters are Bethany and Carla. Their behavior demonstrates the affects of discontentment caused by the media. Despite the fact that both of these women are reasonably successful, they each want the things that they do no have that are present in each other. Carla is beautiful and wants to be smart and Bethany is smart and wants to be beautiful. Under normal circumstances the longing to have what someone else has, is usual either eventually abandoned or translates into negative emotions that are never acted on. However, due to the benefit of theatrics, these yearning become achievable because Bethany arrives at Carla’s house armed with â€Å"†¦a goddamn genie and one more wish!† (1108) The play is a microcosm of the discontentment in our society. This discontent is exhibited most effectively through Bethany’s character since she was the one more willing take exaggerated measures to obtain what she wanted. Although, Carla similarly voiced some discontentment with her life, she was not willing to exchange her reality for someone else’s. When we segregate each character and situation for examination, we are able to see how Martin purposefully crafts a story to effectively leave the audience thinking about the impact of discontentment in society. Carla is a symbol of the allure and illusion of beauty. She is a model the sociocultural standard of feminine beauty in society, however nothing about her is as it appears. Although she is a model, she is struggling. She is beautiful but her looks were altered by cosmetic surgery. Men were attracted to her but the  quality of the men is questionable. The fact that she is not smart is to deliberately create the stereotype of the dumb model. The media’s use of such unrealistic models like Carla and it makes it difficult for females to achieve any level of contentment with their physical appearance. Carla is the false god the media f orces women to compare themselves against. Her beauty is unattainable as it is the result of drastic measures. Yet, even if other women decide to go through those drastic measures they soon learn, like Carla, that it does not ultimately bring them happiness. When you examine Carla and Bethany’s relationship, you can further see the emptiness in Carla’s life. She describes Bethany as being one of the only female friends that she has. Reading the dialogue, even beyond the obvious points, there is so much about the friendship that is flawed. Bethany is not even aware that it is Carla’s birthday and when made aware she only half-heartedly acknowledges it before she continues on with her conversation/purpose for being there. Bethany also shows no regard for the fact that Carla and is on the phone regardless of how many times Carla asks her to be quiet. When Carla does finish her telephone the two carry on separate monologues and their conversation only finds connection when Carla realizes that she is the topic. Carla even acknowledges that Bethany does not like her most of the time. Which forces the reader to question the extent to which Carla understands relationships like friendship. Interestingly, Martin chose to have Carla be somewhat modest and even somewhat self-deprecating regarding her attitude of toward herself and complimentary toward her less attractive friend. This choice is interesting in that we generally think of the beautiful girl in stories as being the morally corrupt one. In popular culture the most beautiful girl is generally depicted as the villain. Yet, Martin breaks from this traditional trajectory. On the other hand, Bethany is an almost villainous character. She is negative, admittedly jealous, self-absorbed, and single-minded in her motivations for things that are fleeting and superficial that she believes beauty gives. She is a successful accountant, a published author, and pretty. However, these things are not enough for her. It could be said that her attitude is an indictment on the fact that women forced to view themselves in terms of their looks. Carla is allowed in many ways to be more human than Bethany is because she no longer has to strive for better  looks. An additional evaluation can also be done of the genie, which is symbolic of the world of advertising. He is a larger than life colorful character that represents the glamour and glitz of the advertising world. The offering of wishes represents the promises of advertisings. The fact that he is â€Å"see-through† (1106) is symbolic of the illusion and deception of advertisement. The whole concept of advertising is comparable to a mirage, which is a natural occurring optical illusion, yet even with the scientific explanation it is still an abstract experience that is a combination of desire and imagination. Advertising is just that, a mirage, a natural occurring illusion that comes into agreement with our desires and imagination. According to the Media Center for Literacy, â€Å"advertising is the most powerful education tool in American† which explains why women are conditioned to view themselves this prism. Bethany was the type of person the advertisement agencies target. She was unhappy with herself, as well as someone willing to go to any length or pay any price to obtain the perfect image. The media works hard at creating a society that view themselves negatively and then they prey on the victims. Ultimately, Martin uses his play to force the audience to question ideas of beauty, happiness, and what it means to live a good life. The characters, Bethany and Carla, present us with different elements of society. Each yearns for something outside of themselves. However, the desire for beauty trumps the desire for other traits like intelligence and personal success to the extent that someone is willing to give up everything for it. WORKS CITED Kilbourne, Jean. Beauty†¦and the Beast of Advertising. 21 December 2012 . Martin, Jane. â€Å"Beauty† Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Susan X. Day, RobertFunk, and Elizabeth McMahan. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2007. Print.

In what way did violence and intimidation contribute to the essays

In what way did violence and intimidation contribute to the essays The Italian public had always loved a leader taking action and uses violence, previously before Mussolini and fascism, a man called Dannunzio had tried to clam a city called Fiumie with a seize, even though he didnt gain much from this what could only be seen as a side show; Mussolini saw from these events that the government was inefficient to act on such a prank like this and the public was very impressed by the action. Mussolini took note of these things and copied marching songs, uniforms, straight-armed salutes and the idea of marching on Rome. So violence had contributed to success long before fascist used it. In extracts from Balbos diary he describes a lot of violence that went on in the early 1922. The fascists burnt down the socialists buildings to strike terror into the heart or their enemies. He also tells us how this means of violence and intimidated the police into helping the fascists escape with a whole fleet of lorries this shows that violence put the fascists in control and forced officials to corporate with them. An anti-fascist wrote about how the fascists used stomach pumps, doses of castor oil as laxatives, hot irons on chest and forcing the socialist leaders to eat live toads: were all means of torture used to stop the socialist leaders form carrying out the socialist movement. An estimated 2000 socialists were killed by the fascists between 1920-22: the socialist council were so disrupted by the attacks that they had to be replace by perfects to re-establish order. Another main thing the Fascists did to make the socialists look bad to the Italian public eye and officials: was to go to socialists meetings out of their uniform so they were recognised and started fights a riots, then the uniformed fascists would come in and break up the fights and save the day. This made the socialists look violent and disorganised. All the violence against the s...

Free Essays on By Any Other Name

By Any Other Name Santha Rama Rau writes the story â€Å"By Any Other Name†. She was born in 1923. Santha was educated in England and America. She later went to India to study and live. The setting of â€Å"By Another Name† is in India before the 1950’s while under British control. The book is about Indian and British students going to school together. The Indian children are going to school under a British rule. The Indian children are facing difficulties in the class because they are being taught English along with their normal curriculum. The British students are also facing problems in school because they are around the Indian kids along with the Indian culture and have a rough time adjusting to it. The parents of both nationalities are skeptical on sending their students to a school with both Indian and British students because they don’t know how the children will react to it and because most people tend to be scared of the unknown. â€Å"By Any Other Name† reflects situations that our students can reflect. The story talks about the different challenge’s students have to overcome and adapt to in a new learning atmosphere. The story shows how the Indians have to adjust to learning and learning to speak English. Students in our school can relate to the problems that the children face with learning a new language because most kids at North High take a foreign language, like Spanish, French, or even German. The students who read this story would be able to see a good example of how people react in an unfamiliar learning enviroment.... Free Essays on By Any Other Name Free Essays on By Any Other Name By Any Other Name Santha Rama Rau writes the story â€Å"By Any Other Name†. She was born in 1923. Santha was educated in England and America. She later went to India to study and live. The setting of â€Å"By Another Name† is in India before the 1950’s while under British control. The book is about Indian and British students going to school together. The Indian children are going to school under a British rule. The Indian children are facing difficulties in the class because they are being taught English along with their normal curriculum. The British students are also facing problems in school because they are around the Indian kids along with the Indian culture and have a rough time adjusting to it. The parents of both nationalities are skeptical on sending their students to a school with both Indian and British students because they don’t know how the children will react to it and because most people tend to be scared of the unknown. â€Å"By Any Other Name† reflects situations that our students can reflect. The story talks about the different challenge’s students have to overcome and adapt to in a new learning atmosphere. The story shows how the Indians have to adjust to learning and learning to speak English. Students in our school can relate to the problems that the children face with learning a new language because most kids at North High take a foreign language, like Spanish, French, or even German. The students who read this story would be able to see a good example of how people react in an unfamiliar learning enviroment....

Microsoft and Apple Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Microsoft and Apple - Case Study Example Microsoft's intelligent and rather unfair business strategies have helped in making it the biggest name in the business by dominating every new comer on the market but Apple is the only company to have fought back. This is because of its large quantity of unusually fond customers who will not shift to any other operating software no matter how hard they try, and Microsoft has tried, and is still trying. Being such huge companies one would assume that they would have strict rules of what to wear and strict Sop's (standard operating procedures) but no. Both companies are innovation based. The directors of both companies know that if you want an employee to be very creative and innovative then you have to let them feel relaxed while working and they follow in this path themselves. The culture of both companies is one where every software developer would dream of working. Microsoft in particular takes out a lot of time and effort to hand pick new software developers out of good universities and trains them to extreme levels while spending a lot of money in making them satisfied with their jobs so they can in turn give something as good back to the company. Apple is no different. It is full of highly innovative professionals who know their work so well that they have moved the company from only being a computer and software related company to a full electronics and accompanied Software Company. Microsoft's basic ideology is to provide every customer the taste of Microsoft's innovation and excellence by making them use their software. The company's main goal is to have the whole world running their operating software in all types of electronic machines. At Microsoft, honesty, integrity and constructive self improvement is highly praised. Apple's base ideological principles are a little different, though mostly the same. they do not plan world domination, but instead believe on slow and steady progress in first making a piece of cutting edge and incredible stylish hardware, then designing a flawless operating software for it which is so pleasing for the user and is so graphic intensive that customers will never want to switch to any alternate. Branching out into the whole electronic goods market and inventing good solid consumer electronic goods across a range of markets is what Apple does best. Business Change The flagship Microsoft products are the Microsoft windows and the Microsoft office productivity suites. The current edition of Microsoft windows is Windows Vista and office suite is the Microsoft Office 2007. Released in early 2007, windows vista has come under a lot of criticism simply because of one reason, it is not perceived as being better compared to its predecessor, Windows XP, which was launched in 2001. Microsoft is adamant that Vista's new kernel and code written from scratch is the very thing which makes it unique and better but the bottom line for most users is that it takes up too much space on the hard disk, is not more productive than XP and even though it is much better in security, an issue which was extremely lacking in XP, the price for it is too high and as Vista is designed for the latest machines with at least a 2.8GHZ Intel compatible processor, a good high end graphics card and at least 2GB of RAM, the cost of hardware alone for most organizations is too much before they even think of buying the top spec version dubbed windows Vista

3 reflection questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

3 reflection questions - Assignment Example The video enriched the coaching session between Ms. Wessling and her principal by enabling discussion and comparison of personal opinion and perspectives of what they have observed. Her principal emphasized that one of the advantages of using video in the classroom is for teachers to be self-reflective and to be open-minded to bring out what they have done to talk about it. Using video in practice can also be a way to improve our practice as it offers a certain degree of reality. There might be a difference between what is planned in the abstract of practice and the concrete of reality; thus, video exposes of what is intrinsically natural to teachers. I could record my own practice using three different means: (1) reflective journal, (2) voice recording, (3) video recording, and (4) used of evaluation tool. Just like Ms. Wessling’s rationale, the used of notes or reflective journal will help me to record concretely record my practice and permits expression of personal opinion and observation. The voice recording tool will help me analyze the modulation of my voice and how interesting my voice is to my students if I will be the listener. Sometimes, the manner or quality of teacher’s voice affects engagement of the students in the lesson and this voice quality cannot be best evaluated in a video. Thus, I will also use video recording to have a holistic view of the classroom – management, interaction, and mannerisms in teaching. Lastly, I added the used of evaluation tool in order to systematically and quantitatively support findings from other means of recording