¶ … personal theories about change and therapy as part of developing a personal therapeutic approach and process. The exploration begins with examining personal beliefs regarding health, normalcy, and change. The author also includes a discussion about the theoretical foundations influencing personal style of therapy. A description of a personal therapy process and culturally responsive therapy is also included in the article. The final section provides a theory of therapy diagram based on cognitive behavioral therapy.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Michael White and David Epston have played a crucial part in explaining family therapy for nearly two decades through contributing to the emergence of numerous concepts in textbooks and handbooks of family therapy (Ramey et. al., 2009, p.262). One of the concepts in family therapy is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is used to treat people with several problems including mental health issues. The use of such theoretical approaches is based on the fact that people have several interacting narratives that contribute to the development of sense of self. As a result, the issues that people bring to therapy are not limited within the clients themselves but are affected and shaped by cultural discourses regarding identity and power (Madigan, 2011). This article explores personal theories about therapy and change by examining personal beliefs and values about health and normalcy and how people change and the role of the therapists.
Personal Beliefs about Health and Normalcy
As previously mentioned, every individual or therapist has a set of personal beliefs and ideas regarding health and normalcy. This set of beliefs and ideas are influenced by several factors including sense of self and cultural discourses in personal growth and development. These beliefs and ideas have a considerable impact on a person's perspective of health and normalcy, which in turn affects his or her quality of life and the healing process. Moreover, the personal beliefs and ideas about health and normalcy affect personal growth and an individual's sense of well-being.
From an individual perspective, health is the state of physical, social, emotional, and social well-being. This definition of health is influenced by the fact that health is more than the absence of illness or injury. Through physical, social, emotional, and social well-being, healthy individuals have the ability to cope with day-to-day activities as well as adapt to their ever-changing surroundings ("What is Health?" 2012). This implies that despite the significance of the absence of disease, it is not enough to adequately define health or adequate to produce health. On the other hand, normalcy is ability to sustain the best possible level of wellness in order to improve the quality of life. Therefore, normalcy is an active process through which a person is constantly aware of a healthy and satisfying life and makes decisions and choices that contribute towards the realization of a healthy and satisfying life.
Change in Relation to Cognitive Behavioral Theory
As previously mentioned, the exploration of personal theories regarding change and therapy involves examining how people change and the role of therapist in the change process. While I believe that people do not change who they are, they develop and become better through changing various things relating to their decisions and behaviors. Based on Cognitive Behavioral Theory, people's change following interactions between their cognition, emotion, and behavior. The change process takes place following learning new ways of thinking that in turn triggers different emotional responses and behaviors. Moreover, the change can come from modification of thinking patterns, emotional responses, and behavior. People change through acquiring skills and knowledge relating to a particular issue or area they would like to change. When using this theory of therapy, the role of the therapist in the process is to help clients identify ways of thinking, feelings, and behaviors that sustain problems. The identification of these factors is followed by assessment and conceptualization of new ways of thinking, emotional responses, and behaviors. The therapist then acts as a change agent by assisting the client to implement these thought patterns, feelings, and behaviors in order to avoid sustaining the problems and dealing with them. In this case, the therapist acts as a change agent whose role is to engage the client with several possibilities of change (Linnell, 2010, p.24).
Theoretical Foundations
Individual therapy approach and process are influenced by his/her theoretical foundations, which differ with regards to their focus and methodologies. Generally, therapeutic approaches and processes are classified into three major categories that influence the actions of a therapist i.e. psychodynamic, humanistic, and cognitive-behavior approaches. These categories are regarded as groups of varying theoretical approaches and foundations that share certain important similarities that differ from other approaches. The theoretical foundation for my therapeutic...
These three seminal perspectives may possess a lot of similarities, yet each of them has contributed novel ideas that are consistent with its theoretical underpinnings. In many of the substance abuse treatment arenas, the significant aspects of all these three approaches are blended to provide for a cognitive-behavioral model that gives the best result in terms of all the other therapies. (Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy) Three theorists who have influenced the
Personal Theory Self-Exploration When will you begin that long journey into yourself? One of the most famous philosophers in history of mankind, Rumi emphasized on exploring or discovering one self. Self-exploration is one of the fundamentals of philosophy. Before contemplating over the wonders of universe, man asked himself the very basic questions about his own existence. Without knowing one's origin and the reason of being born, man cannot shape his beliefs
From the basis of psychoanalysis and existential therapy, I will then listen for any problems relating to attitudes that can be driven by repressed emotions. I will use dialogue in order to gain an understanding of how the clients see their problems, and what they think is needed to help. In the dialogue session, I will provide the client with my own insight on how I believe the best progress
Kellogg & Young in Schema Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder offer a comprehensive explanation of the use of Schema Therapy for patients with BPD, by first explaining the disorder and how it is particularly prime for the use of schema therapy as the disorder itself and the behavior and emotions exhibited from it can be seen as an individual traversing through a short list of schemas and are reflective of
Personal Theory Paper Introduction Since mid-1970s, a serious matter for integration between Christianity and psychology developed among Christian counsellors. The integration movement developed as a result of reaction to psychology being accepted in the sector dealing with pastoral counseling where it did not face any criticism from the Christians’ point of view. The efforts for integrating psychology with Christianity developed more energy in the last twenty years since the time when Jay
Similar to Gestalt therapy, I also did not incorporate existentialist thinking into my theory. However, similar to Jungian analytical psychology and Gestalt therapy, I view this type of therapy as very philosophical in its' nature and application. Therapy methods that are very philosophical in their application do not appeal to me because they do not seem to adequately address the "real-life" problems, and instead seek vague answers that can be
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