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This is a program to aid patients in getting the most out of their cognitive therapy. Follow the Program Synopsis link at the bottom of the page to go through the basic features of the program. One technique involves clients keeping a daily record of automatic thoughts. Keep a record of your automatic thoughts for a few days. Did you find this task easy or difficult? What are some ways in which cognitive therapy is different from behavioural therapy?
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Keeping a list of my automatic thoughts was not difficult but very tiresome. I am quite aware of my automatic thoughts and continually work on changing negative ones. I would think that a patient of this kind of therapy would have to quite dedicated to making changes and be willing to put a lot of time and effort into following through with this program. There were some patient reviews in the site that said some good things about the program but I think it would be hard to keep motivated given all the work that must be done. They did mention that it is strongly suggested that a patient keep up with both the computer program and traditional therapy.

The differences between cognitive and behavior. therapy is that cognitive seems more thought and emotion based. In cognitive, the patient focuses on their thoughts and emotions and works on recognizing and changing them through paper and pencil type excercises. Behavior therapy focuses on stimulas-response relationships and uses more concrete, physical forms of therapy to change the behavior.

I'm just putting a few more words down because this program never catches that last few letters of my post so If I write more, you will see that I actually do know how to end a sentence with the appropriate letters and punctuation marks

See! it cut off my period at the end. Weird!!!!

I found it difficult to keep track of my automatic thoughts, it seems that my mind wanders continually and I am not usually on the same thing at once. Even when I read or watch t.v or even typing this, it seems that my mind is on something different. I can't keep my mind on one thing.

I think that it would be better to do cognitive therapy because you should have to work on you thoughts first before your actions, since your thoughts ideally control your actions wether on a conscious or subconscious level. By changing your thoughts, or at least redirecting them it would do more for you and eventually help you out with changing your behaviors.

I agree. By becoming aware of your thoughts and how they affect your actions, you would be better able to find ways to cope with learning to change those actions. I think that this site is set up in a very tidy way with pictures of people in office attire giving it a professional feel. Not to mention a very stale feel. Jep - do you think that a person who was seeking cognitive therapy would find the process mentioned here quite draining an not very motivating?
As Jep mentioned, it is hard for a lot of people to keep track of their automatic thoughts because they don't tend to isolate them and analyze them and their ultimate effect on behavior and mood

It makes sense that it would not be very motiving, that is what needs to be added the motivation. I think a person in cognitive therapy has to want to be there.

I think I may have been confused with automatic thinking. SO I tried it again, and it amazing how so many things become automatic as in typing, walking just basically everything. I find there are very few things that I actually have to think about doing. Even cooking is a "mindless" act. I maybe I am going out on a limb here, but I think people with or without mental illness, have to start doing things that are so mindless, that is why they do not enjoy life, (I think).

I also think that by keeping track of their automatic thoughts and actions, it is taking away from the "automatic" side or it. Does that make sense?

I think that it's ironic that way. If you are aware of it it can't be automatic. I think the goal is to identify the automatic thoughts so that they can be changed. If a person continually thought, "I'm useless", they could become aware of this and with the help of a professional, aquire knowledge about why these thoughts are harmful and what kind of effect they have.
For example, someone who practices "musterbation" (pg 665) could keep a record of the mental thoughts that they have in order to make it more real for them. By this I mean, they have a concrete record on paper that they can see that tells them their thoughts about having to aquire a certain item or act a certain way. This could help in making them aware of how irrational the thought actually is and could help them to become motivated to change their thoughts.

I think that all the therapy types mentioned in chapter 18 are best used slightly mixed together. I however, favor the humanistic approach that helps the client empower themselves and focuses on them finding their own answers with guidance of a professional. This therapy adds emotion and empathy into the therapy process which I think is important in daealing with many illnesses.

Does anybody have a clue where Mike is

That makes sense to write it down, and then take a look at it after. A person may realize how "dumb" (for lack of a better word) they are being when they think this. If they are able to rationalize what they are thinking and writing down or not they are still looking at it more objectively than the time they were thinking it, and that might give them a reason to try to change.

I agree that there isn't one therapy that is better than another on it's own, it seems that they would work better when used together in little bits and pieces.

I think that healing comes within, and a change in thinking patterns. I realize that some illnesses are chemical and need medications to help, but just the meds. are not going to help, because there is emotional damage done no matter how early it is caught and treated.

I think treatment is a very delicate procedure and can't be handled lightly.

As a side note, my hats off to the therapists/psychologists etc. who don't charge an arm and a leg and charge due to income. It has helped alot of people I know.

I don't know where Mike is but I know I did the last summary. I believe it is Mikes turn but I wouldn't rely on him.

Hi. Well, you did the one two or three weeks ago so I will do this one. I do one for every question so it's really no difference for me.

Summary

As we explored the site on the cognitive therapy, our group members kept track of our automatic mental thoughts. This proved to be difficult for one member and much easier for another. The difficulty was attributed to the mind’s inability to stay focused on one particular idea at a time. Perhaps it gets easier with practice and continual attempts at recognition. This activity can be used to recognize how thoughts affect mood and behavior. When you keep track of automatic thoughts, it takes away from the “automatic aspect of it therefore making it more easily controllable. The example of “musterbation” was presented. In recording thoughts, a person would have a visual of what goes on inside their head while having illogical desires. This visual could help the person analyze themselves and decide what leads to their irrationality. We both agreed however, that this type of exercise as well as the others presented in the site would be quite draining and somewhat complicated for a person who is seeking therapy. Because of this, the person might not feel motivated to continue with the therapy until the end. A discovery was made concerning how most of the processes we go through in life are guided by automatic and unconscious thought and how mindless thought could lead to unfulfillment in life.

It was suggested that the client follow through with both the computer program and traditional therapy with a counselor. This could help aid in providing some encouragement which may influence the person to continue their remedial treatment. It was also noticed that there were some positive responses posted by clients to the site in response to the therapy program.

We stated some of the differences between cognitive and behavior therapy:

1) Cognitive - focus on recognizing and changing thoughts and emotions
- pencil and paper type exercises to heighten awareness of self
2) Behavior - focus on stimulus-response relationships
- physical forms of therapy to change behavior

In comparing the two, a point brought up regarding cognitive therapy Vs, behavior in relation to changing a specific behavior, was that cognitive might be better. It is important to redirect thoughts from negative to more positive in order to control and change behavior for the better. Positive thoughts can be an aid in developing beneficial coping skills.

A brief mention was made in regards to the site’s “stale” feel. This is not helpful in trying to provide incentive to use the program to improve one’s self .

In a therapeutic situation, we agreed that possibly the best form of treatment is a mixture of all the types of therapy plus medication if needed. One type should probably be the dominant type while small aspects of the others are integrated. A personal preference towards the humanistic theory was spoken of. Reasons for choosing this type were:
1) to help the individual empower his/herself
2) emotion is a focus
3) empathy from the professional is prevalent

It is important for the health of society that there be a sliding fee scale for people who cannot afford the tremendous cost of therapeutic help