DISCUSSION 10

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In this week's discussion, I watched a session on the theory of cognitive therapy. In this session, the client had worked with the therapist about how they feel uncomfortable in a group setting, and are having a hard time in the group discussion. During the session, there was one automatic thought that stood out to me. The client recalled about a class that she has, and an inclusion activity that she was required to participate in it. The client said, “I know it is called an inclusion activity, but it feels the opposite for me”(Flanagan, Flanagan Retrieved 2020 ).

When she brought up this mental event, she simply stated how she felt about the event without processing the outcomes of it. The other automatic thought that I observed while watching the session is when the client brought up her friend in the session. This is a positive automatic thought when I observed it. As the therapist continued with the session, the client said: “I just want to be a helpful person with my friend” (Flanagan, Flanagan Retrieved 2020 ). When the client said this, it was a way that she remembered the time and situation that she could be of helpfulness to her friend. When we talk about the topic of cognitive distortions, I saw one of the distortions specifically throughout the whole session. The one distortion that I saw, was the concept of selective abstraction (Corey 2017). What this means is that you come to conclusions based on only part of the information. When you come to these conclusions, they can sometimes focus mostly on the weaknesses and not the successes (Corey 2017). This is the client talking about themselves. In the video, the client talks about how they are just wanting to be heard and how they think that they are unable to speak and they would not say the correct things when they finally get the courage to speak as well. The counselor also used a multi-column worksheet, that I liked. In my opinion, it was a way that you could understand different issues that could be bothering the client and how they link together without making that connection firsthand. The counselor made the connection, as the session went on. It happened organically which I liked as a whole.

As I was watching the session unfold, I liked the cognitive theory.  For me, it is a good balance of control between the counselor and the client. I think that having an agenda through the session is a good idea and even better when the client makes the agenda with you. This type of theory requires more of a counselor driven aspect and has more responsibility that needs to come from the counselor. This makes me comfortable because while there is an agenda, we do not always have to touch on every aspect. It is a flexible session, because you may discover new complications that could not be on the agenda that the client may have not thought were issues. That is why driving the session is important for the counselor.