Psychological Strategies in Mental Health Australia Research Paper 2022

Running head: FOCUSED PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGIES IN MENTAL HEALTH
FOCUSED PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGIES IN MENTAL HEALTH
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FOCUSED PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGIES IN MENTAL HEALTH1
Introduction:
With the global burden of disease, mental illness has emerged as one of the leading
causes that impacted more than thousands of individuals every year. In Australia, 20% of
individuals experience at least one mental illness every year where 11.5% of the individuals have
one disorder. This paper aims to provide compare and contrast two common theories in the
psychology in part A and resolve a case study in the part B. The chosen two theories that would
be discussed in part A include Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Therapy.
PART A:
Key theoretical themes:
Cognitive-behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy both introduced in
psychotherapy for resolving severe issues of the individual. However, while comparing the
theoretical underpinning, it can be said that the fundamental theoretical premise of Cognitive
behavioral therapy is that the individuals’ interpretation of their past and current experiences
directly influences how they perceive the external environment (Meadows et al., 2012) .
Therefore, this idiosyncratic interpretation of the experience and current events create emotional
reactions as well as future behavior. This process is known as information processing hypothesis
and individual biases along with negative thought patterns play a crucial role in interpretation.
On the other hand, the fundamental theoretical premise of interpersonal therapy is that
interpretation of the external environment of the individuals also influenced by the interpersonal
relationships of the individuals which further influence the emotional reaction (Linardon et al.,
2016). Secondly, another theoretical premise of CBT is that cognitive changes are central in
identifying emotional,

FOCUSED PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGIES IN MENTAL HEALTH2
Physiological, behavioral and environmental changes. On the other hand, another theoretical
premise of IPT is that interpersonal relationships are directly associated with current mood and
hence, interpersonal relationship dynamics are central in identifying emotional, physiological
and behavioral. In other words, while CBT focused on the negative thought process, IPT focused
on the grief about someone’s own sense of self.
How change is conceptualized:
Both therapies use a detailed process to conceptualize the changes in clients and both
therapies included in the psychotherapy treatment guideline. Considering CBT, Meadows et al.
(2012), suggested that in order to conceptualize, the change the therapist develop a cognitive
formulation through the cognitive model with a client where basic steps are 1) diagnosis; 2)
current issues 3) underlying negative thoughts and 4) how the client is coping with current
maladaptive behavior. On the other hand, considering IPT, in order to conceptualize the change,
the therapist use diathesis-stress model of psychiatric illness where common steps are 1)
diagnosis 2) identification of chronic stressful conditions3) Communication Analysis
4) Exploration of Options and Decision Analysis 5) improvement of social functioning as well as
social support (Markowitz & Weissman, 2012). While the conceptualization of CBT focused the
distorted negative thoughts of the individuals, the conceptualization of IPT focused on grief,
unresolved disagreements within interpersonal relations and a lack of life events.
Therapeutic aim:
The cognitive-behavioral therapy was established by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s for
resolving a broad range of illness compared to the IPT established by Gerald Klerman and
Myrna Weissman in 1970s which is therapeutically more specific for treating illness. Both

FOCUSED PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGIES IN MENTAL HEALTH3
therapies aim to decrease the psychological distress of the clients by providing alternative coping
strategies. Considering the therapeutic aim, the first therapeutic aim of cognitive behavioral
therapy is to assist clients to be aware of when they are involving in the negative interpretations
as well as negative behaviors that influence distorted thinking (Le et al., 2016). The second
therapeutic aim is to assist individuals to develop alternative ways of thinking and behaving so
that psychological distress can be reduced (Meadows et al., 2012). On the other hand, Deans,
Reay and Buist (2016), suggested the first therapeutic aim of interpersonal therapy is to assist
individuals to be aware of the dynamics of the personal relationships that impact the mood and
behaviors. The second therapeutic aim of the IPT is to improve interpersonal communication
skills within the relationship and develop social support with the rationale expectations
(Www.goodtherapy.org. , 2020). The common illnesses treated by CBT include depression,
bipolar eating, and schizophrenia. On the other hand, the common illnesses treated by IPT
include Anxiety, social phobia, posttraumatic stress, and Substance abuse issues
(Www.goodtherapy.org. , 2020).
Role of therapist and client:
In order to reduce mental illness, both therapies use therapeutic client and therapist
relationship as a fundamental basis. Both the therapist use empathy, compassion, respect and
empowerment as a basic technique to improve the mental health of the client. In the case of
CBT, Chan et al. (2019), argued that the role of the therapist listens, teach and encourage to the
client whereas the responsibility of the client is express the concern, learn and implement that
learning for altering negative automated thought process. Therefore, therapists and clients
together develop a therapeutic relationship where therapists identify the strength of the clients to
teach clients in improving thinking patterns. On the other hand, in interpersonal therapy, the