Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a Contemporary Mental Health Practice

This essay delves into Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as a significant contemporary mental health practice. It begins by outlining the historical origins of CBT, tracing its development from behavioral treatments in the early 1900s to the pioneering work of Dr. Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s. The paper then explores the fundamental assumptions about human nature underlying CBT, emphasizing the interplay of cognition, emotions, and behavior. Key components of CBT are discussed, including core beliefs, automatic thoughts, psycho-education, thought monitoring, and the development of new cognitive skills. The characteristics of the CBT model, such as its theoretically determined, collaborative, time-limited, objective, and structured approach, are examined. The role of therapists in implementing CBT, along with the associated pros and cons of this therapeutic approach, are also evaluated. Finally, the essay analyzes the CBT approach, highlighting its focus on cognitive and behavioral interventions and their impact on the treatment of various mental health disorders.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH
Discussion on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as Contemporary Mental Health Practice
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Mental health includes the social, psychological, and emotional well-being of the individual
and is an important aspect contributing to the overall health of the person. There are several theories
associated with mental health, and the principal broad categories include humanistic, cognitive,
psychodynamic, biological, and behaviourism (Bondarenko 2018). Cognition is referred to as the
combination of several critical functions performed by the brain, including the ability to learn, intuition,
language, judgment, and memory functions. Cognitive health contributes to a significant proportion of
the mental health of individuals, including their abilities to remember, learn and think, perform motor
functions, and emotional functionality, which further includes the person’s capability to interpret and
respond to generated emotions (Medalia and Erlich 2017). The initiation of problems in these aspects
may lead to degradation of brain functionality and reducing satisfaction with life and, thus, requires
specialty intervention. There are several theoretical approaches to address such mental health issues,
many of which aim at exploring the root causes of the problem and develop a predictive model to
foretell future incidences (Shah et al. 2018). One of the theoretical approaches is the implementation
of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques, which aims at making the client aware of their
disturbing behavioural pattern and negative interpretations to improve their thought process. The
following sections of the paper will discuss on the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and explore its
historical origins along with the interpretation of its efficacy. Further discussion on the components of
the CBT, its primary characteristics, the associated pros and cons and the role of therapists for this
therapy approach will be discusses in brief.
Discussion
Historical Origins
Before the origin of techniques to address cognitive behaviour, the roots of the behavioural
treatment goes back to the 1900s. Behavioural conduct treatment for individuals with mental
challenges have been present since the mid-1900s. Pavlov, Skinner, and Watson were primary
advocates of behavioural conduct treatment (Simmons and Griffiths 2017). Behaviourism depends on
the possibility that practices can be estimated, prepared, and even changed.
The evidence suggests that Dr. Aaron T. Beck, a psychiatrist practicing in the University of
Pennsylvania, pioneered the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in the 1960s. Dr. Beck started
helping patients distinguish and assess these programmed thought process. He found that the
patients behaved more functionally and felt emotionally better. At the point when patients changed
their fundamental convictions about themselves, their reality, and others, treatment brought about
dependable change (Chand, Kuckel and Huecker 2019). This approach eventually got to be known as
‘cognitive behavioural therapy.’
The early endeavours at behavioural treatment were trailed by the improvement of intellectual
treatment and followed by cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Conduct treatment developed in free
yet equal ways in the United Kingdom and the United States during 1950 to 1970. The subsequent
stage, the advancement of intellectual treatment, occurred in the U.S. from the mid-1960s onwards
(Fortwengel, Gospel and Toner 2019). The converging of conduct treatment and subjective treatment
into CBT assembled a force in the late 1980s and is presently entrenched in Australia, North America,

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Britain, and few European regions. It is the most comprehensively and unquestionably supported type
of mental treatment and is the pillar of the ground-breaking extension of psychotherapy benefits all
across the globe.
Assumptions about Human Nature
It is here contended that different scholars hold several logical philosophical assumptions
concerning human nature and that these suppositions, regardless of whether expressly perceived by
the scholar or not, play a significant job in their hypothesis development. Underlying assumptions
about the human nature associated with cognitive behaviour include characteristics and their
antonyms behaviour, such knowability - unknowability, homeostasis - heterostasis, proactivity -
reactivity, subjectivity – objectivity, changeability – unchangeability, constitutionalism –
environmentalism, holism – elementalism, rationality – irrationality, and freedom – determinism (Chin
and Hayes 2017). CBT as a psychotherapy framework could be significantly fortified by the
advancement of an increasingly exhaustive hypothesis of human nature at its base. Such a
hypothesis, similar to all character speculations, settles upon certain fundamental logical suppositions
concerning human nature.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can include a complex skillset of aptitudes to
deliberately recognize, test, and challenge comprehensions and procedures. In addition to this, a
capacity to 'consider thinking' is included in those methodologies that require the client to watch,
recognize, and acknowledge insights and feelings. These procedures include a level of intellectual
development and advancement and require a capacity to take part in conceptual assignments, for
example, seeing occasions from other points of view, creating elective attributions or remaining back,
and inquisitively watching contemplations and feelings.
Components of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
The key components of CBT include core beliefs and automatic thoughts. Core beliefs are the
most focal convictions that individuals have about themselves, others, and their general surroundings.
A patient will start to build up these thoughts in youth as he collaborates with others in his reality
(Edmunds et al. 2017). Some subjective specialists likewise utilize the word compositions to depict
core beliefs.
Automatic thoughts are the thoughts that unconsciously appear in the patient’s head in some
random situation. They are not quite the same as core beliefs, and they identify with the reasoning
that the patient takes part in all the time and is likely not mindful of by any stretch of the imagination.
Automatic thoughts are concise, and the vast majority are generally increasingly mindful of the feeling
that accompanies the idea instead of the idea itself.
Another critical component of CBT is to understand that the patients have their thought
process to comprehend and deciphers, leading to the situation where an occasion is more significant
in deciding the response than the event itself.
Psycho-education
An essential part of all cognitive behavioural projects includes instruction about the
connection between contemplations, emotions, and conduct. The procedure includes building up a
reasonable and shared comprehension of the connection between how individuals think, how they

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feel, and what they do (Schaub et al. 2018). Moreover, the collaborative procedure of CBT and the
dynamic role of training and experimentation are stressed.
Thought Monitoring
The essential work of building up a superior comprehension of usual insights is accomplished
through watching and observing insights and examples of reasoning. Figured observing could
concentrate on the particular substance of center convictions, negative programmed musings, or
expectations to recognize those that produce compelling, passionate responses or are excessively
negative or self-basic (Waltman et al. 2019). Post this, and the perception could be supported
whereby the youngster is assisted with building up a familiarity with the impact of their discernments
on their feelings.
Development of new cognitive skills
CBT includes the improvement of new intellectual aptitudes, for example, distraction, where
the attraction is engaged away from tension, increasing stimuli towards increasingly neural
responsibilities. Intellectual adapting can be upgraded using positive self-talk with considerable
reasoning and critical thinking aptitudes assisting with creating elective perspectives through
difficulties (Bowie et al. 2017)
Characteristics of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
CBT Model
The Cognitive Behavioural Therapy model comprises of three key aspects; thoughts, feelings
and behaviour. It is evident that the thought process of an individual determines their emotions and
how they act. With the help of CBT, the therapists focuses on making the client aware of the
incidences when they perform negative interpretations and their distorted thinking makes their
behavioural pattern take the wrong turn. By helping the clients to develop an alternate way of thought
processing and thinking and inducing behavioural changes that will lead to significant reduction in
their psychological distress.
Theoretically Determined
CBT depends on experimentally testable models. Solid hypothetical models give the reason
for CBT, and for example, insights are related to passionate issues and illuminate the substance
regarding the intercession, change the idea of the perceptions, or the relationship with them. CBT
along these lines gives a balanced and robust mediation and is not just an assortment of unique
strategies.
Collaborative Model
A key element of CBT is the collaborative and oriented procedure by which it is performed.
The client has a functioning job in distinguishing their objectives, setting targets, testing, rehearsing,
and checking their exhibition. The methodology is intended to encourage more remarkable and
progressively compelling restraint, with the therapist giving a steady structure inside which this can
happen (Barth et al. 2019). The job of the therapist is to create an organization wherein the client is
engaged in building up a superior comprehension of their issues, to find elective perspectives, and to
carry on with behaving and improving thought processing.

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Time-Limited
CBT is frequently concise and as a rule time-constrained, comprising of close to 16 meetings,
and much of the time far less. The short idea of the mediation advances autonomy and energizes self-
improvement. This model is promptly material to work with youngsters and youths, for whom the run
of the period of intervention is significantly shorter than that with grown-ups.
Objective and Structured
CBT is an organized and targeted approach that controls the clients through a procedure of
appraisal, issue detailing, intercession, checking, and assessment. The objectives and focuses of the
mediation are unequivocally characterized and customarily explored. There is an accentuation on
evaluation, what is more, the utilization of appraisals (for example, the recurrence of wrong conduct,
quality of faith in considerations, level of trouble experienced, or progress towards accomplishing
objectives) (van Niekirk et al. 2017). Standard observing and assessment give a target method for
evaluating progress by contrasting the current execution against baseline evaluations.
Role of Therapists and Functions
Researches show a stable relationship between patients' in‐session relational behaviour and
follow‐up result. To anticipate antagonistic results related to poor patient behaviour, therapists may
give patients extra preparation that strengthens constructive in‐session relational conduct and
diminishes risky influences (e.g., undivided attention, social fitness preparing). Therapists ought to be
acceptable models for constructive relational conduct and ponder their in‐session conduct with
specific respect to their commitment to the event of patients' pessimistic relational behaviour, for
instance, in their supervision (Liness et al. 2019).
The individuals who are being treated for behaviour compulsions, schizophrenia, depression,
anxiety, panic, addictions, mood disorders, phobias, eating disorders and other similar challenges
associated with mental, behavioural and emotional health, benefit the most from Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy.
Pros and Cons of CBT Approach
CBT is as effective in treating mental health disorders as medications and can be critically
referred to when medications fail to work alone. Other advantages associated with CBT include its
completion in short period, highly structure nature, skill generation capability and the characteristics
by which it alters the behaviors by re-training the thoughts and change the perception of the
individuals.
However, there are few disadvantages too associated with CBT. These include the structured
nature of CBT, which is not suitable for individuals with complex mental health needs, the
interventions in CBT that can make the person emotionally uncomfortable initially and high co-
operation and dedication required by the client. another significant disadvantage of CBT is that it
helps in changing the person’s capability to changes their thoughts, feelings and behaviour, but does
not address the root cause of the problem.
Analysis of the Therapy Approach
The focal point of CBT is on the substance and nature of the handling deficiencies and
inclinations that are supporting the client’s issues. Typically, clients who are on edge, will, in general,

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have perceptions and predispositions towards the future and individual risk, peril, powerlessness, and
failure to adapt. Sorrow, in general, will be identified with insights concerning misfortune, hardship,
and personal disappointment with the procedure of rumination expanding sentiments of misery.
Forceful customers will, in general, see a progressively forceful purpose in uncertain circumstances,
specifically take care of fewer signals when settling on choices about the plan of someone else's
conduct and create less verbal answers for issues.Interventions in CBT include the distinguishing
proof of one-sided or particular discernments and preparing (negative thinking, thinking mistakes),
which are then dependent upon target testing (cognitive assessment).
People are assisted with concentrating on their qualities, positive aptitudes, and
demonstrations of benevolence. Caring thinking assists with creating adjusted, kinder, elective
reasoning where self-analysis is supplanted with self-compassion. Sympathetic conduct urges the
person to carry on in progressively supportive manners, such as confronting terrifying occasions or
showing self-generosity (Twomey, O’Reilly and Meyer 2017).
Conclusion
It can be concluded that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is an effective approach for mental
health disorders, which relies on the mix of the major standards from conduct and psychological brain
science. It is unique in context to the reported psychotherapy dealing tactics. Instead, CBT is a
“problem centred" and "activity situated" based of treatment. Thus, treat specific issues recognized
with an analysed mental issue. The therapist’s work is to help the client in finding and practicing viable
practices to address the notable objectives and abatement side effects of the confusion. The therapy
depends on the principle that side effects and related pain can be decreased by showing data
preparing abilities and methods for dealing with anxiety.

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