Assignment:
Post an article, video, or visual to reinforce Ebony's and Benjamin idea or challenge them to see their point from a different perspective.
Engage in conversation with your peers about your own experiences or understanding of CBT (or another stated theory). Consider asking a question or sharing your own personal experience. Need Assignment Help?
Ebony post:
My understanding of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is that our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are connected, and changing unhealthy or unrealistic patterns of thinking can influence how we feel and behave. CBT also emphasizes an active and collaborative relationship between the client and therapist and uses practical strategies to help clients make changes in their thinking and behavior (Corey, 2024). The American Psychological Association (n.d.) similarly explains that CBT helps individuals recognize problematic thinking patterns, evaluate them more realistically, and develop more effective behavioral responses. I like this approach because it seems practical and gives clients skills they can continue using outside of therapy.
I am also interested in person-centered therapy. Corey (2024) explains that this approach emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and conditions such as empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard. I like the idea that a counselor can help creates an environment where someone feels safe enough to understand themselves without immediately feeling judged or being told what is wrong with them. I can see value in combining that type of relationship with some of the more structured strategies used in CBT. At the same time, I think it is important to recognize that even well-supported therapeutic approaches may not have the same evidence base across every population. For example, Fordham et al. (2021) found substantial evidence supporting CBT across numerous conditions but also identified gaps in the evidence for some populations and settings. That makes me interested in how counselors balance research evidence with the culture, experiences, needs, and circumstances of the individual client.
Throughout this course, I hope to learn how counselors determine which theory or approach is most appropriate for a particular client rather than simply relying on the approach they personally prefer. I am especially interested in how CBT and other counseling theories can be applied when working with adolescents and individuals experiencing addiction. I also want to understand the limitations of different theories and recognize when another approach might better meet a client's needs. Since I hope to work in mental health and addiction in the future, learning multiple theories can help me begin developing a counseling style that is flexible enough to recognize that every client will not need the same thing.
One question I have for the class is: Do you think counselors are more effective when they specialize primarily in one therapeutic approach, or when they integrate techniques from different theories based on the individual client?
Benjamin post:
My understanding of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is that our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors influence one another. CBT interests me because it focuses not only on understanding why someone may be struggling but also on helping the person recognize unhealthy thought and behavioral patterns and develop healthier ways of responding.
Something that changed my perspective on CBT was learning that the same approach may not work the same way for every client. Fynn et al. (2023) reviewed research involving individuals with intellectual disabilities and anxiety and found encouraging evidence that CBT can be beneficial, particularly for individuals with mild intellectual disabilities. However, they also found that CBT may need to be modified through approaches such as visual aids, modeling, simplified techniques, and smaller groups (Fynn et al., 2023). This stood out to me because I work with children and have seen how differently people can learn, communicate, and process information. As a future therapist, I think it will be important for me to understand the client as an individual instead of assuming that one counseling technique will work for everyone.
What I hope to learn most from this course is how to actually apply CBT and other counseling theories to real situations. I am particularly interested in learning which approaches may be effective when working with couples and families and how therapists decide when one approach is more appropriate than another. I also want to learn how to adapt counseling techniques to meet the individual needs of clients. Ultimately, I hope this course helps me begin developing my own counseling style and gives me a better understanding of the type of marriage and family therapist I would like to become.