Cognitive behavioral therapy is a commonly applied treatment approach aimed to replace the dysfunctional behaviors and thoughts of patients with more accurate and constructive beliefs to relieve their emotional distress. The effectiveness of CBT lies in aspects such as collaboration between the patient and therapist, coping card, and cognitive strategies which help in the therapeutic effectiveness (Wright, 2006). The contribution of such aspects has been highlighted in several study findings in which treatment in both the clinical and research settings has been researched.
When it comes to the use of CBT in treating mood disorders, most people would assume that its effectiveness is only realized during the active treatment session, after which the patient becomes susceptible to the disorders when the sessions are over. However, Butler, Chapman, Forman and Beck (2006) argue that CBT makes the patient his/her own therapist and thus the effectiveness of the treatment persists even after active treatment is discontinued. This is particularly practical when CBT is used as a treatment for disorders such as depression, anxiety, and social phobia among other behavioral disorders. In reference to direct comparisons that were made between the effectiveness of treatment approaches for 16 different disorders, it was found out that CBT is superior to antidepressants in the treatment of behavioral disorders and also helps the patients in self-management after active treatment sessions are complete (Butler et al., 2006). From the findings and analyses, it is practical to conclude that successful treatment of mood/psychological disorders using CBT is promising.
Another argument in support of the effectiveness of CBT has been brought out by Hiltunen, Kocys and Perrin-Wallqvist (2013) in which study findings indicate that CBT administered by less trained therapists with limited theoretic education is an effective psychotherapy approach in terms of symptom relief and patient satisfaction. The point emphasized in the study is the patient-psychotherapist interaction in which understanding and processing the complex personal narrative of the patient is vital. In addition, CBT’s theoretical foundation grounded on the concepts of cognitive psychology has been highlighted. The role of the less trained therapists helps to conceptualize CBT as a collaborative investigation undertaken by the therapist and patient that seeks to build a new repertoire of adaptive behaviors. The study findings indicate that the therapists were satisfied with the treatment based on the client alliance and their supervisory role (Hiltunen et al., 2013). Therefore, CBT’s effectiveness can be traced down to the therapist-client alliance through which processing of information is critical to the effectiveness of the treatment approach.
A point of contention in regard to CBT treatment approach has been on its effectiveness in actual clinical practice. This is because it is widely assumed that patients in the clinical setting are supposedly in more severe conditions than patients who may be treated under research conditions. In addition, the patients in the clinical setting have higher expectations of specialist treatments. In a study that sought to determine the effectiveness of CBT for anxiety disorders in actual clinical settings, findings indicated that CBT is effective in the treatment of anxiety disorder in the particular setting (Stewart & Chambless, 2009). In the study, patients in the clinical and research settings were compared. The findings indicated that the rate of improvement in terms of outcome was 78% for those in the clinical setting compared to 22% for those in the research settings (Stewart & Chambless, 2009). This can be attributed to the use of CBT techniques in clinically representative conditions, which leads to larger treatment effect sizes. Overall, from the study, CBT is an effective approach to the treatment of behavioral disorders in the clinical setting.
In the CBT approach, the aspects a patient learns in the course of the therapy is important for real-life adjustments in dealing with behavioral disorders. This understanding has been supported by scholars and researchers who seek to explain CBT’s effectiveness in treating behavioral disorders as being an aspect of cognition. In a study that involved children between 8 and 14 years with symptoms of social phobia, those involved in the CBT treatment showed a significant increase in positive self-evaluation and coping ideas while there was a significant decrease in negative self-evaluation (Melfsen et al., 2011). The CBT treatment approach was structured through planned confrontations of feared social situations and this was meant to help the children to be able to change their interpretation of ambiguous social situations as being less hostile.
References
Butler, A. C., Chapman, J. E., Forman, E. M., & Beck, A. T. (2006). The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Clinical psychology review, 26(1), 17-31.
Hiltunen, A. J., Kocys, E., & Perrin‐Wallqvist, R. (2013). Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy: An evaluation of therapies provided by trainees at a university psychotherapy training center. PsyCh journal, 2(2), 101-112.
Melfsen, S., Kühnemund, M., Schwieger, J., Warnke, A., Stadler, C., Poustka, F., & Stangier, U. (2011). Cognitive behavioral therapy of socially phobic children focusing on cognition: a randomised wait-list control study. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 5(1), 5.
Stewart, R. E., & Chambless, D. L. (2009). Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy for Adult Anxiety Disorders in Clinical Practice: A Meta-Analysis of Effectiveness Studies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(4), 595-606.
Wright, J. H. (2006). Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basic Principles and Recent Advances. Focus, 4(2), 173-178.
