Based on two principles:
- Behavioural theory- a disorder is brought about by a conditioned response to a specific environmental stimuli
- Cognitive theory- disorders are brought about by specific patterns of maladaptive thought
CBT takles both of these processes together. With regards to cognition, CBT recognises 3 types of thoughts/beliefs:
- Automatic thoughts- the most superficial and accessible. Involuntary, usually plausible but can be distorted
My friend phoned to cancel lunch tomorrow. She must not like me any more.
- Underlying assumptions are a person’s ‘rules’ for behaving, based on fundamental beliefs and shaped by experience.
I can’t enjoy myself unless I’m with other people.
- Schemas or core beliefs are a person’s most fundamental beliefs about themselves and the world around them.
- e.g. a neglected child believing ‘I am unlovable’.
Common types of cognitive error
- Selective abstraction- drawing conclusions (usually negative) from only one part of the information
- Arbitrary inference- drawing unjustified conclusions
- All or nothing thinking- seeing situations as the be all or end all
- Magnification/minimization- emphasising negatives and playing down positives
- Disqualifying the positives
- Catastrophic thinking
- Overgeneralisation- viewing a single negative event as the norm
- Emotional reasoning- using emotions as evidence
- Jumping to conclusions
Notes on Medicine/Surgery 