Emotion-Abstraction Patterns and Cognitive Interventions in a Single Case of Standard Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Abstract

Abstract. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) assumes that therapeutic change depends mainly on change of cognitive content, while, from a theoretical viewpoint, other processes are excluded. This study aims to explore standard CBT interventions using a model of therapeutic change that includes both emotional and cognitive processes, i.e., the therapeutic cycle model (TCM;Mergenthaler, 1985;1996), which describes the processes of therapeutic change in terms of cycles involving both emotional arousal and abstract thinking activation. We classified standard CBT interventions in three main areas: assessing, disputing, and reframing biased beliefs. In 10 individual cognitive therapy sessions with a 30-year-old patient affected by a panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA), this study aimed to explore whether cognitive interventions are not only related to abstract thinking but also to the emotional activation phases of TCM. Three independent judges assessed the presence of cognitive therapeutic interventions using the Comprehensive Psychotherapeutic Interventions Rating Scale (CPIRS; Trijsburg et al., 2002). A software program measured the TCM cognitive and emotional variables. The measures revealed significant correlations between cognitive therapeutic interventions and phases of abstract thinking activation during the therapeutic process. The results clarified the role of cognitive interventions in the therapeutic process as a useful instrument aimed to increase reality testing.

Embodied Cognition and the Direct Induction of Affect as a Compliment to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

“…For CBT treatment outcomes, there exists increasing evidence that in-session AE is an important change variable in the treatment of PTSD [59], social anxiety disorder [60], panic disorder [61], phobias [62], cluster C personality disorders [63] and chronic fatigue [64]. Furthermore, AfjesVanDorn and Barber [52] highlight the growing research for experiential affect-focused interventions developed as adjunct to CBT (e.g., Exposure-based Cognitive Therapy for depression; [65]) and evidence based third-wave CBT approaches, further delineating the importance of AE and the associated cognitive processing of these emotional experiences in CBT treatment.…”

Themes and Techniques in Cycles of Change in the Psychotherapy Treatment of Women Who Experienced Violence: An Exploratory Study

“…The tool is associated with therapeutic progress (Mergenthaler, 2008) and is indicative of the effectiveness of psychotherapy. This tool has been used in several studies, such as those by Vizziello et al (2011), Lo Verde et al (2012, and Sassaroli et al (2014), Nunes (2015b), andVon Mengden Campezatto et al (2017). Although the tool has been applied in different populations, no studies to date have focused on cycles of change with women in situations of intimate partner violence (IPV).…”

What Works When for Whom? A methodological reflection on Therapeutic Change Process Research

“…Unfortunately, the language-dependency limits the usability of the method outside that language. Often, quadrant i methods are available in English and sometimes also in a second language, frequently the mother-tongue of the research group, such as Italian (Sassaroli et al, 2014).…”

“…Stream A mainly represents the efforts of psychologists who study therapeutic change (McCarthy et al, 2017;McCarthy et al, 2014;McCarthy et al, 2011;Mergenthaler & Kachele, 1996;Pfäfflin et al, 2005;Sassaroli et al, 2014). Stream A researchers mainly study the Therapeutic Change Model (TCM), a software package for automatic analysis of psychotherapeutic texts (Mergenthaler, 1996).…”