Critically Evaluate Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with an account of main principles, discussion of four techniques and analysis of criticisms/merts

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy values and empowers the individual to take control of his/her life through psycho-education with a vast array of techniques specific to individual diagnosis.  Unconditional self-regard is extended to include the unconditional regard of others, which is congruent with social work’s strength-based values.  The goal of CBT is to allow a client to take control of his/her problems and to manage life in a healthy adaptive way.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy assumes that both the individual and the environment are of fundamental importance and that therapy outside of a holistic approach would be an injustice to the client.  Fixing cognitive dysfunctions is not possible without the involvement of behavior and fixing behavioral dysfunctions is not possible without the involvement of cognition.

The cognitive model hypothesizes that people’s thoughts and feelings are not determined by a situation, but by their interpretation and construction of the situation.  Recognizing this discrepancy, CBT seeks to modify the dysfunctional core beliefs that result in automatic thoughts which trigger emotion in any given situation.  Behavioral methods are often used to accomplish this task and education components are often coupled with client homework for successful treatment.