COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
CBT - Answer-Highly recommended for depression and anxiety
*when they are in crisis and they first come in don't do cognitive behavioral
IMMEDIATELY --> when you start to see improvement from the medication, then you
start working on this as a tool
CBT is based on the principle that: - Answer-thoughts influence feelings,
feelings influence actions, and
actions influence our results or life circumstances.
CBT Process - Answer-We experience some kind of event in life (a trigger). How we
think about, process, or interpret that event will affect what type of emotions we
experience and how intensely we feel them.
Feelings often influence actions. And how we choose to respond influences the
outcome, or the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
Linear version of the general model of CBT looks like this: - Answer-event -- thoughts --
feelings -- actions -- circumstances
What to do with patients that say they feel offended - - Answer-just agree with them
- it neutralizes them -- best way to neutralize them is to just AGREE with (if they say
something really critical about you, just agree with them)
fundamental key of CBT - Answer-We can only control how we REACT to the trigger
We have a say regarding some of the events (triggers) we experience, and others are
completely out of our control.
What is the difference between thoughts and feelings? - Answer-Thoughts are not
feelings. A lot of people say things like, "I felt like he was scheming against me." That is
not a feeling - it is a thought. That type of thought often leads to feelings of fear, hurt, or
betrayal.
We teach our patients, "If it's a full sentence, it's a thought." -- Feelings are... - Answer-
Feelings are one word and are expressions of emotion.
, Examples include angry, sad, mad, happy, excited, fearful, anxious, etc. Some people
do not get the importance of this, but for a person to learn to use the tools of CBT, it is
important to understand the differences.
Principle of CBT - Answer-It is the content of our thoughts that determines what types of
emotions we feel.
Is rational thinking the same as positive thinking? - Answer-No. Many different terms are
used to describe unhealthy thinking ( e.g., irrational, dysfunctional, maladaptive,
distorted).
Positive thinking focuses only on the positive.
Rational thinking focuses on
probability, likelihood, patterns, and evidence
Do we choose our actions? - Answer-We almost always choose our actions. Some
people say things like, "He made me do it," or "I didn't have a choice," or "What about
fight or flight?"
Some decisions are made instantaneously, and the thought process behind them is less
conscious, but to determine whether thinking was involved, helpful questions to ask
include:
What influences our results - Answer-***Our actions influence our results.
Influence is an important word to understand, because it doesn't mean dictate.
Thus, it is not accurate to say we choose our results. It is possible that when we make
healthy decisions, bad things still happen. It is also possible to make a certain number
of poor choices and get away with it.
But, generally speaking, the more healthy choices you make, the better chance you
have of a positive outcome,
Important principle of CBT - Answer-Another important principle of CBT is that all
behavior makes sense.
That is, we all come to think the way we do for specific reasons - all behavior serves a
purpose.
However, the ideas we have learned over the years aren't always healthy - some may
have worked in one setting, but not in another.
The clinical term for changing the way you think is - Answer-cognitive restructuring
True/False anything that is learned can be unlearned - Answer-True
