Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Introduction

Cognitive behaviour therapy is integral to healthcare since it combines various techniques to deal with patients undergoing various issues (David et al., 2018). An excellent example of how cognitive behaviour therapy is used is to treat patients suffering from conditions such as OCD. In this case, cognitive behavioral therapy identifies instances where obsessive thoughts occur; afterwards, it creates options for alternative behaviour, which then calls for practice by the patient to solve the problem. Cognitive behaviour therapy can differ when applied to families and individual settings (David et al., 2018). This paper aims to explain the differences in the application of cognitive behaviour therapy in individual, group and family settings, the challenges one might encounter when using this approach with the various groups, and strategies for overcoming the identified challenges.

Differences in the Various Settings

Cognitive behaviour therapy can be very different when applied to individuals, groups and families in that each case has its unique characteristics and should be treated differently to achieve favourable results; when cognitive behaviour therapy is applied to an individual, the healthcare professional administering the service deals with issues from one perspective (the individual’s perspective) which makes it simple to interpret the problem at hand and come up with a solution.

On the other hand, when cognitive behaviour therapy is applied to groups, it becomes more complicated since the group has several people, most of whom have different characteristics and views on the same topic. An excellent example to use in this case is when applying cognitive behaviour therapy to couples. Couples who come for therapy typically have issues affecting them, which makes it necessary to get help. These issues usually stem from disagreements meaning that they view things differently to the point of disagreeing. For a healthcare professional, administering CBT, in this case, means that they are dealing with two perspectives, and they have to consider both before making any significant progress.

When dealing with families, be it spouse and spouse, parent and child or siblings, the narrative can be different since these individuals have a common background with set norms. Administering CBT can be hectic, making it hard for a healthcare practitioner to carry out their duties. Dealing with a child who may think the parent does not love them can be tricky since they will have the cognitive bias that everything the parent does is not in their best interest and vice versa.

Challenges Experienced

CBT in individuals can pose various challenges to healthcare workers, especially if the individual begins the therapy session with a negative core belief. Such a negative core belief works against the whole process since the healthcare professional first has to get the individual from their current mindset, allowing them to view things from a different perspective and have room for change (Curtiss et al., 2021).

Secondly, when dealing with groups, the challenges experienced in an individual setting are present on a larger scale due to two reasons. Firstly, most group members can have negative core beliefs that will work against the whole therapy session. This makes it hard for healthcare professional to carry out their duties. Secondly, the group members can have very different perspectives on various issues, which means that for the healthcare practitioner to achieve any real progress, they must first bring the group members together to agree on a subject. This is usually very demanding, and if the healthcare practitioner works alone, they can find it very hard to achieve success.

Lastly, when dealing with families, the challenges experienced on an individual and group level come into play only that, in this case, things might be different since the medical practitioner is dealing with people who are related and know each other very well. This can work against the healthcare practitioner since the individuals can have a negative cognitive bias against each other due to what they know about each other.

Strategies for Overcoming Identified Challenges

The best and most important approach is equipping healthcare professionals with the necessary training to deal with individuals, groups and families who suffer from various conditions such as mental health issues, anxiety and stress disorders since cognitive behaviour therapy is very effective (Nakao et al., 2021). Understanding the nature of each individual’s case is essential for the success of CBT since it makes it easier for the healthcare professional to identify any core beliefs the patient may have and work with them accordingly to achieve desired results.

Another important strategy for overcoming the identified challenges can be splitting the groups and families into smaller units instead of dealing with them as one large group. This can be time-consuming but will help improve efficiency since dealing with smaller groups makes it easier for the patient and the medical practitioner to share the information, which is crucial for the success of CBT.

Conclusion

In conclusion, CBT is an essential aspect of healthcare and can be applied in different settings, such as individuals, groups and families, all of which pose different challenges in operation due to the nature of the interaction between the patient and healthcare practitioner. The identified challenges can be mitigated with the strategies suggested above and supported by scholarly articles. The three additional supporting articles were considered scholarly since, besides having relevant information, they were retrieved from reputable sources and were all peer-reviewed.