Shawn Krueger

Discussion 5-1
Cognitive therapists believe that the way we think shapes our emotions. If we expect the
worst to happen and routinely focus on the negative, this can become a self-fulfilling
prophecy. After the client learns to change the way they think, they will be able to
change their emotions and their life. Beck determined that many of our psychological
problems come from habitual assumptions of the conscious mind, not the unconscious.
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/11/1674_50428

325 studies involving

more than 9,000 patients have found that cognitive therapy effectively treats a variety of
disorders: depression, anxiety, eating disorders, hypochondria, chronic pain, sexual
dysfunction, substance abuse, and even migraines. It is cheaper than other therapies and
it works, so cognitive therapists have good reason to believe that it works and is effective
through research.
Cognitive therapy is in the news because it works. In the last 30 years,

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/11/1674_50428

depressive disorders, panic

disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder,
bulimia, and chronic fatigue.
Cognitive therapy is also known to work well when treating

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/324/7332/288
Cognitive therapy is also said to work in treating depression; better than even antidepressants.
240 depressed patients were randomly paced in a cognitive therapy, antidepressant, or placebo
group. After 16 weeks; cognitive therapy and antidepressants worked about the same, but the
advantage of no medication is no side effects. Cognitive therapy patients were also shown to
have less likelihood of relapse after two years.
http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v51/n29/reround.html#cognitive