Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 1

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 2

According to Cognitive behavioral therapy, Cordina’s problem can be linked to her background

and immediate environment. We assume that the situation that she is in is a direct resultant of her

environment (McLeod, 2015). She has a generally wrong thinking about her situation, especially

men, and this can be attributed to the fact that she lacked parenting in her life, or there was a

persistent lack of a male figure in her environment. She can't just cope in an environment

controlled by men hence the many break-ups and the ultimate divorce. The lack of an immediate

family to call to in her upbringing can be assumed to be the cause of her general lack of

appreciation to the institution of marriage; and relationships in particular. The result is the

negative perception of self, inadequacy and lack of self-esteem.

The first goal of the therapy is to help Cordina appreciate and make peace with her past.

Enabling her to understand her past is significant in lowering the overall negative perceptions she

has in her past, and is essential in solving her immediate problems. Another goal should be

directed towards decreasing her negative perceptions of self, and enable her to build a more

positive view of her future. She has to move on from what happened and eliminate feelings of

guilt that is critical in her ability to face the future.

Cordina is suffering from three cognitive distortions (McLeod, 2015): negative perception of

self, negative perception of her immediate world and negative perception of her future. She has

negative thoughts concerning her background as it has not shaped her well and that she grew in

an orphanage. Her inability to keep relationships shows that her cognition of the present is

distorted. She finds it hard to build a marriage and even after she realizes that her husband is

seeing someone else, it doesn’t move her. She quickly breaks up from the relationship, and this

illustrates her distorted view of the future. The interplay of these conditions contributes to the

compound state that she is in.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 3

Cognitive rehearsal and Guided discovery are Cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that can

be utilized effectively in the treatment (Psychology.jrank.org, 2015). Cognitive rehearsal entails

requesting to imagine the difficult times and moments she faced in her upbringing and work out

a way of coping with the problems and their effects in the therapy session. Guided discovery

entails a series of questions aimed at helping Cordina on her journey to self-discovery.

The expected outcomes are that Cordina gains an appreciation of her background and that she

prepares herself for a more positive future, despite all that has happened to her.

References
McLeod, S. (2015). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | CBT | Simply Psychology.
Simplypsychology.org. Retrieved 23 September 2015, from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-therapy.html

Psychology.jrank.org,. (2015). Cognitive Therapy - Purpose, Treatment techniques, Preparation,

Typical results. Retrieved 23 September 2015, from
http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/127/Cognitive-Therapy.html