Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

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In today’s society, people consume alcohol a lot not only the U.S., but also the entire world. Historically, drinking alcohol has been generalized all over the world. However, alcohol abuse is not a disorder that is simply diagnosed by the amount of drink or the kind of alcohol. The diagnosis of alcohol abuse depends on how abstemious a patient is, whether she or he has physical or psychological problems caused by drinking, and whether she or he has social, familial, or occupational problems caused by drinking (Barlow & Durand, 2014, p. 402). Additionally, a patient with alcohol dependence cannot stop drinking even though she or he has physical, occupational, and social problems caused by drinking more than socially acceptable level of alcohol …show more content…
In order to alleviate depression, a patient often drinks alcohol as self-medication. Patients continue to drink alcohol because they temporarily feel less anxious after drinking, but depression and anxiety become more extreme (Barlow & Durand, 2014, p. 422). Patients with alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, and depression together are common, and previous researches proved that the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective on this …show more content…
290), the CBT is the combination of cognitive therapy and behavior therapy, and therapists use various techniques that focus on clients’ thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Clients receive assignments or practice skills that they learned during and outside sessions in order to change their cognition and behaviors. Of three CBT approaches, Ellis explains rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), and he believes that our emotions depend on how we evaluate our belief, events, and consequences. A-B-C framework is applied to understand a client’s thoughts and belief. A is an activating event, B is a belief, and C is an emotional and behavioral consequence. B affects A, and C is formed. After understanding their irrational belief, clients are taught how to overcome irrational belief such as self-management skills. Beck’s cognitive therapy (CT) explains that distorted thoughts make psychological disorders such as depression (Corey, 2012, p. 302). People have automatic thoughts, but these become problems if these thoughts are negative. Clients negatively think about themselves, their future, and the world because of cognitive distortions. Therapists help to find cognitive errors and change a client’s negative thoughts to adaptive thoughts. Meichenbaum developed cognitive behavior modification (CBM) that focuses on identifying self-statements and inner insight by using stress inoculation training (SIT) (Corey, 2012, p. 310). During sessions, first,