Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Its Use in a Group Setting (CBGT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the form of psychotherapy aimed at changing the way a person perceives his or her environment and interacts with it. The two earliest forms of CBT were Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, or REBT, developed by Albert Ellis in the early 1950s (Ellis, 1975), and Cognitive Therapy (CT), developed independently by Aaron Beck in the 1960s (Beck, 1975). The first model resembling modern CBT was developed and introduced by Arnold Lazarus, who has worked for 20 years before creating Multimodal Therapy in the 1970s, which was considered the most comprehensive model of cognitive behavioral therapy at the time.

The main goal of CBT is to reduce the symptoms of the disease by modifying the elements of perception and thinking processes that are causing the patient to exhibit those symptoms. When the symptoms are successfully suppressed, CBT is used to prevent relapse. Since CBT is applied to a wide range of psychological disorders, the CBT methods also differ widely, but the basis for them always remains the same, namely the need to alter thinking and perceptions of the patient.

Due to the nature of the therapy, the patient plays a vital role in achieving successful outcomes. This is done through self-reporting, self-assessment, and self-evaluation conducted repeatedly throughout the period of time treatment is conducted. While this individualistic approach is maintained in cognitive behavioral group therapy, or CBGT, this form of therapy does make a stronger emphasis on interaction and cooperation between patients rather than that between the therapist and the patient.

Similar to one-on-one CBT, clients in the CBGT go through a period of initial assessment using a number of self-report forms or questionnaires. This is necessary to establish the nature and severity of each client's disorder, possible presence of mental illness in the past generations of one's family, the use of medication, and other pertinent information that would serve as the basis for the client's treatment (Leahy, 2003). Based on the collected information, the therapist creates a common agenda for the group as well as personal agendas for each member of the group. Group members do not necessarily have to have the same psychological disorder to participate in the same CBGT group - it is more important that the severity of their disorders is similar and the conditions in terms of medications are similar as well (Leahy, 2003).

Quite often, simply the fact of being among the people with similar problems can have a positive therapeutic influence on patients of CBGT (Leahy, 2003). Aside from that, cognitive behavioral therapy is conducted using various forms of conditioning, or training a person through repeated mental and physical exercises with the goal of replacing pathological responses to stimuli with the healthy ones. Some of these methods include exposure therapy, named like this because the patients are exposed to situations that they usually avoid due to fear or anxiety; reinforcement, or setting certain goals and rewarding oneself when these goals are achieved; assertiveness training, which is one of the methods uniquely attributed to group therapy; relapse conditioning, or teaching patients to identify potentially stressful situations where their neurotic response may return; and many others (ABCT, 2008).

Question to readers: Would you agree that CBGT is a more effective and comprehensive treatment approach than one-on-one CBT?

REFERENCES
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT). (2008). What's in a name (BT, CT, REBT, DBT, ACT, etc.)? ABCT website. Online (18 Mar 2008) at: http://www.aabt.org/What%20are/What%20Are%20Behavioral%20and%20Cognitive%20Therapies.html
Beck, A. T. (1975). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. New York: International Universities Press.
Ellis, A. (1975). A new guide to rational living. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Leahy, R. L. (2003). What is cognitive therapy? The American Institute for Cognitive Therapy. Online (18 Mar 2008) at: http://www.cognitivetherapynyc.com/default.asp?sid=768