Cognitive Therapy Case Study

Cognitive therapy was chosen to assist Leslie with gaining a better understanding of her horrific decisions. Cognitive therapy is the best approach because it analyzes individual’s thoughts and helps change behaviors. The theory focuses on helping clients understand and change irrational beliefs the client may have. This type of therapy helps individuals function more affectively by removing cognitive distortions. It also helps the client develop more positive beliefs and behaviors. This type of therapy will be beneficial to Leslie because it will help her recognize her automatic thoughts, change her cognitive distortions, and address underlying issues. Leslie will gain a better understanding of her distorted beliefs that affected her decision
Reflecting on childhood experiences and family dynamics will help her recognize dysfunctional thoughts she may be unaware of. The focus of therapy will be helping Leslie understand irrational beliefs she has that impacted her previous behavior. Therapy will also help her modify those beliefs to decrease the likely hood of negative future behavior. In order to assist Leslie with gaining a better understanding, schema-focused cognitive therapy will be utilized. Schema focused therapy was developed by Jeffrey Young and is used to assist individuals with severe mental illness such as personality disorders and childhood abuse (Young, 2008). According to Young, severe psychological disorders can arise from early maladaptive schemas in childhood (Young, 2008). This approach has multiple themes that will give Leslie more insight to her behavior. The themes that will be used are “disconnection and rejection”, “impaired autonomy and performance”, impaired Limits, and “other directedness”. With these themes being the focus of therapy Leslie will learn how her schema was altered in childhood and continued into
While using this type of therapy it is important that the therapist allow the client to put forth effort instead of doing all the work. Since this therapy has structured techniques, the client may look to the therapist for all the answers. This could keep the client from making sufficient progress in therapy. Leslie may become overly dependent on the therapist for answers instead of using the tools to evaluate her life. There are also some multicultural issues with this therapy. Cognitive therapy focuses largely on the belief systems of the individual. Religious and spiritual beliefs can have a huge impact on individual lives and how they make decisions. Leslie is a Mexican American female, her culture, background, and religious beliefs could possible impact