Psychotherapy and Clinical Supervision
Psychotherapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The premise of cognitive behavioral therapy is that changing maladaptive thinking leads to change in affect and in behavior. Therapists or computer-based programs use CBT techniques to help individuals challenge their patterns and beliefs and replace “errors in thinking such as overgeneralizing, magnifying negatives, minimizing positives and catastrophizing” with “more realistic and effective thoughts, thus decreasing emotional distress and self-defeating behavior”. CBT helps individuals replace “maladaptive … coping skills, cognitions, emotions and behaviors with more adaptive ones”, by challenging an individual’s way of thinking and the way that he/she reacts to certain habits or behaviors.
According to Gatchel et al. (2008), CBT has six phases:
- Assessment
- Reconceptualization
- Skills acquisition
- Skills consolidation and application training
- Generalization and maintenance
- Post-treatment assessment follow-up
Clinical Supervision
Clinical Supervision is used in counseling, psychotherapy, and other mental health disciplines as well as many other professions engaged in working with people. It consists of the practitioner meeting regularly with another professional (s) to discuss casework and other professional issues in a structured way. This is often known as clinical or counseling supervision or consultation. The purpose is to assist the practitioner to learn from his or her experience and progress in expertise, as well as to ensure good service to the client or patient.