CBT

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

  ·         Cognitive; the way we think

  ·         Behaviour: what is seen/what we do

  ·         In CBT the 2 are therefore combined
• Treating addictions, CBT aims to:

  ·         1) Change the irrational thoughts associated with the addiction

  ·         2)Helps a client learn to avoid or cope better with high risk situations
• Functional Analysis:

  ·         The client and the therapist work together to identify high risk situations

  ·         They work together to try and work out which irrational beliefs, and distorted thoughts trigger the clients cravings and addiction related behaviour

  ·         Client and therapist reflect on what the client is thinking before during and after

  ·         This is an on-going process

  ·         Note down patterns, think about why relapse is happening
• Cognitive Restructuring

  ·         The therapist confronts and challenges the clients distorted cognitions

  ·         The client may not be aware of how their irrational thinking affects their behaviour, or they may believe that they have been successfully coping until now.

  ·         The therapist asks evidence of this, which then forces the client to rethink their own irrational beliefs

  ·         It is important that the client owns their awareness and is not just told by the therapist that their thinking is distorted.
• Behaviour change

  ·         The client learns new skills as a way of coping

  ·         The client practises these skills in a safe environment with the therapist
• Relapse Prevention:

  ·         The client learns techniques to help prevent relapse

  ·         It is challenging to avoid anything that may trigger, so we need to plan for how we are going to cope with these situations instead.

  ·         Example: drinking
• Strengths

  + CBT is widely used, and has clear practical application for helping people deal with addiction

  + It is especially useful in looking for ways to prevent relapse, which it acknowledges is something that could happen
• Weakness:

  -However contrasting research suggests that it does not have long term benefits.