Cognitive-Behavioral Counseling
Cognitive-Behavioral Counseling is a goal oriented therapeutic approach that focuses on how our thinking influences our behavior. A counselor working with an individual with this approach, will work to identify and challenge that individual's maladaptive (faulty) thinking and then the behaviors that contribute to their problem(s). Homework is common with this type of therapeutic approach. I, for one, most always give homework tailored towards the goals the individual is working on during their sessions and to be completed between sessions. Counseling sessions are often times structured to so that the client is able to make incremental progress towards the goals they are working to reach. I believe that it takes more than 60-90 minutes of weekly counseling to work through or overcome most issues. My homework is usually issue specific, meaning that if you are having relationship problems and we discover in counseling that most of your relationship problems stem from your lack of boundaries, then the homework I would suggest would be around boundaries. I also believe that when you are physically in a space where you can think freely without time constrants, feel your feelings, and organize your thoughts, that homework makes it possible to reach your goals more quickly. I remember when I was doing a class on negative core beliefs. The exercise (homework) I asked class participants to do for the following week was to make a list of their negative core beliefs. I decided to make a list of my own. I knew I had several, maybe even a lot, but nothing compared to what was on my list. The next week I told everyone to keep their lists some where they could quickly add to the list if new negative core beliefs popped into their minds during the weeks that followed. It was a surprise that at the end of the 6-week class, everyone had added additional beliefs to their lists. What was a surprise for me, though, in keeping a running tally of my own negative core beliefs during the same time period, is that I had over a hundred. Yes, over 100! Homework is the most powerful exercise for participants in my classes take the time to complete each week. I have seen the most growth occur for those individuals who are most invested in resolving issues and moving on with their lives. Not all class participants are clients in counseling with me, but that are committed individuals. Cognitive-Behavioral Counseling emphasizes thoughts and beliefs that a person has as an explanation as to how individuals develop and how they may create dysfunctions. They believe in the role of social learning in childhood development through observation, imitation, and modeling and is influenced by factors such as attention, motivation, attitudes, and emotions. If parents act a certain way while a child is growing up, that child will then most likely grow up to act much of the same way. If an individual’s drives aren’t properly reinforced and developed through healthy and proper social interactions, they may then learn unhealthy ways of coping with stress and life problems; this is where the term dysfunction stems from and is a natural offshoot of this theory.
Cognitive-Behavioral Counseling is tailored to work with an individual’s irrational and faulty thinking patterns, behaviors, and beliefs by educating them and reinforcing the positive experiences that will lead to fundamental changes in the way that individuals cope. This approach is generally more directive and therapists may mimic that of teachers at times. Counseling is typically short- term, 3-9 months, or around 10-35 sessions. I belief that if an individual is in counseling more than a year, I am not doing the best job for my clients. Only once, I had a client with severe issues due to years of incest that stayed in counseling for more than a year. I'm not saying I won't continue to see a client more than a year if that's what the client wants. But I do believe most issues are managable within a year. Listening, and giving feedback in the form of valadation, suggestions, and/or advice is the approach I take.
Cognitive-Behavioral Counseling is a goal oriented therapeutic approach that focuses on how our thinking influences our behavior. A counselor working with an individual with this approach, will work to identify and challenge that individual's maladaptive (faulty) thinking and then the behaviors that contribute to their problem(s). Homework is common with this type of therapeutic approach. I, for one, most always give homework tailored towards the goals the individual is working on during their sessions and to be completed between sessions. Counseling sessions are often times structured to so that the client is able to make incremental progress towards the goals they are working to reach. I believe that it takes more than 60-90 minutes of weekly counseling to work through or overcome most issues. My homework is usually issue specific, meaning that if you are having relationship problems and we discover in counseling that most of your relationship problems stem from your lack of boundaries, then the homework I would suggest would be around boundaries. I also believe that when you are physically in a space where you can think freely without time constrants, feel your feelings, and organize your thoughts, that homework makes it possible to reach your goals more quickly. I remember when I was doing a class on negative core beliefs. The exercise (homework) I asked class participants to do for the following week was to make a list of their negative core beliefs. I decided to make a list of my own. I knew I had several, maybe even a lot, but nothing compared to what was on my list. The next week I told everyone to keep their lists some where they could quickly add to the list if new negative core beliefs popped into their minds during the weeks that followed. It was a surprise that at the end of the 6-week class, everyone had added additional beliefs to their lists. What was a surprise for me, though, in keeping a running tally of my own negative core beliefs during the same time period, is that I had over a hundred. Yes, over 100! Homework is the most powerful exercise for participants in my classes take the time to complete each week. I have seen the most growth occur for those individuals who are most invested in resolving issues and moving on with their lives. Not all class participants are clients in counseling with me, but that are committed individuals. Cognitive-Behavioral Counseling emphasizes thoughts and beliefs that a person has as an explanation as to how individuals develop and how they may create dysfunctions. They believe in the role of social learning in childhood development through observation, imitation, and modeling and is influenced by factors such as attention, motivation, attitudes, and emotions. If parents act a certain way while a child is growing up, that child will then most likely grow up to act much of the same way. If an individual’s drives aren’t properly reinforced and developed through healthy and proper social interactions, they may then learn unhealthy ways of coping with stress and life problems; this is where the term dysfunction stems from and is a natural offshoot of this theory.
Cognitive-Behavioral Counseling is tailored to work with an individual’s irrational and faulty thinking patterns, behaviors, and beliefs by educating them and reinforcing the positive experiences that will lead to fundamental changes in the way that individuals cope. This approach is generally more directive and therapists may mimic that of teachers at times. Counseling is typically short- term, 3-9 months, or around 10-35 sessions. I belief that if an individual is in counseling more than a year, I am not doing the best job for my clients. Only once, I had a client with severe issues due to years of incest that stayed in counseling for more than a year. I'm not saying I won't continue to see a client more than a year if that's what the client wants. But I do believe most issues are managable within a year. Listening, and giving feedback in the form of valadation, suggestions, and/or advice is the approach I take.