~~~

My first book on Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy was this: Therapy after Ellis, Berne, Freud and the Buddha:

~~~

So, I have now defined counselling; and presented a brief introduction to CENT, which is an integration of ideas and techniques from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), Transactional Analysis (TA), Object Relations, and Narrative Therapy. However, before I present you with any more of my own video clips about Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy (CENT), I want to break that down into components that are easier to understand. So first I will present a video clip which features a  National Health Service (NHS) client who had Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for depression when her husband died. Her testimonial should give you some good insights into what people get from cognitive type therapies:

~~~

Book review: Teach Yourself Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, by Christine Wilding and Aileen Milne

"This book brought me back from the depths of suicidal thoughts and anxiety, and taught me how to isolate those thinking patterns from my work life. It was crucial for me to read this book, because I was wildly successful in my career, but floundering emotionally because of past pains that I couldn't identify. This book has saved me thousands of dollars and years of therapy. I don't knock therapy at all, but this book will help you actually know what to ask for help in when you actually see a therapist, and that has saved me lots of time and money. The exercises in this book alone are worth more than anything else on the market. This book is a game-changer, and must have for any personal library or friend who is struggling. Just put it in a emotional first aid kit!!! It should be required collegiate reading for any person even considering the psychology profession or ministry." Name not provided.

Available from Amazon: Teach Yourself Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

~~~

~~~

Please support the public educational role of this web site by making a small donation:

~~~

Next I want to present a statement from an NHS (National Health Service) expert in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), talking about the benefits to be gained from this kind of counselling and therapy:

~~~

Now I would like to show you a counselling role play session, based on Cognitive Therapy, with a young man who is unhappy with his life:

~~~

A general introduction to Cognitive Therapy (CT):

Book Review: Cognitive Therapy: An Introduction, Second edition, by Diana Sanders and Frank Wills

'This book provides an ideal introduction in the area of cognitive therapy (CT). Sanders and Wills remain true to their first edition's name of portraying with honesty the practice of CT, and in this edition build on the first to inspiringly capture the developments of CT, as well as the broadening spectrum of its practitioners. Good diagrams are provided throughout, modelling formulations and the different conceptualizations of CT, as well as exercises for use with patients. The therapy is brought to life by scripts from sample cases. The appealing yet cautionary frankness of the authors in reporting their own interactions and fallibility makes it ideal for a trainee practitioner' - Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy

'It is… particularly useful that main points are summarised in tables, making this a very easy-to-read book. It is evident from the way the material is presented that the authors are experienced therapists, who have a deep understanding of the cognitive therapy process per se and the applications of cognitive theory in general. Case studies are presented throughout the book to illustrate the theory, offering valuable educational material to the readers. The book has also been written with an open mind, providing a balanced overview of both the strengths and limitations of an evidence-based therapeutic model. I believe that it will make a useful source for all those professionals who wish to introduce themselves to cognitive therapy as well as an excellent introductory training textbook' - Accident and Emergency Nursing

~~~ 

And here is a brief academic paper on Cognitive Therapy (CT) which I wrote for my Rusland Diploma course, in 2003; followed by a Question and Answer Mini-paper, also on CT:

# Rusland Diploma Assignment on Cognitive Therapy (2003);

# *New*: Q&A Mini-paper on Cognitive Therapy

All systems of CBT were inspired by the original form of cognitive behaviour counselling, which was Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), developed by Dr Albert Ellis, in New York City, in the period 1953-1962, and continually updated since that time, up to his death in 2007.  See the following documents:

# What is REBT? - An extensive web page of information on the theory and practice of REBT;

# Rusland College assignment on REBT;

# Q&A Mini-paper on REBT.

~~~

 Although REBT was the original form of cognitive behaviour therapy: "Cognitive therapy (as such) was initially developed in the early 1970s by Dr Aaron Beck of the University of Pennsylvania.  The theory postulates that during clients' cognitive development they learn incorrect habits of processing and interpreting information. Cognitive therapists attempt to unravel clients' distortions and help them to learn different and more realistic ways of processing and reality-testing information".

~~~

As a final illustration of the CBT approach to counselling, here is a CBT role play from the Australian Institute of Professional Counselling (AIPC):

~~~

 "Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) is not a purely intellectual approach to counseling, but strongly emphasizes the interplay of feeling, behaviour and cognition (or thought)".

~~~

# What is Counselling? 

# Counselling all over the world...

There are no really good videos of role plays using Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) - which is a shame.  However, here is a video clip in which Dr Jeffrey Guterman presents a one minute excerpt from a telephone counselling session he had with Dr Albert Ellis, the creator of REBT, back in the early 1980s.  Jeffrey is on the telephone to the Institute for RET in New York City.  It nicely illustrates something about the ABC model of REBT:

Further down this page, I have posted a video clip in which I demonstrate that REBT does not have to be delivered in hard-nosed, non-empathic ways, which has sometimes happened in the past.  REBT can be, and should be, as sensitive and caring as the most person-centred system of counselling and psychotherapy.

The basic difference between general CBT and REBT is that, in CBT the counsellor will be looking to identify your 'automatic thoughts ' - especially over-generalizations, ignoring positives, and producing exaggerations - while in REBT the counsellor looks for what are called 'irrational beliefs', which include demanding the unattainable; exaggerating the degree of badness of your situation; assuming you can not tolerate your problems; and condemning and damningyourself, other people, and the world.  To find out more about REBT, try the 'What is REBT?' page.

~~~

So much for the cognitive approach. Now I want to show you a role play session illustrating a more emotive counselling approach - the psycho-dynamic counselling model - in which the counsellor looks for the roots of current problems in the childhood of the client:

~~~

Introduction to Freud's Psychoanalysis 

Sigmund Freud was the great-grandfather of all systems of counselling and psychotherapy.  In the 1890s he created a system called psychoanalysis, which set the pattern for one specialist to help one client to work through their emotional distress with a view to making sense of it, and thereby resolve it. 

# Here's a link to a YouTube video clip on Freud's system of Psychoanalysis.***

Freud saw the human individual as being split between two major instincts: the life urge (or Eros) and the death urge (or Thanatos).  This distinction is preserved in the CENT distinction between our Good Wolf and our Bad Wolf sides.  When Freudians talk about 'libido' they are talking about manifestations of the life urge.

The human mind is seen to be split three ways in psychoanalysis, between the individual organism as born (which is called the 'it', or 'id); the internalized rules, attitudes and values of the mother/father (which is called the 'over-I', or 'superego'); and the sense of self of the individual (which is called the 'ego', or 'the I'). The psychic energy - or aliveness - of the individual is distributed between these three elements of mind, which may be in harmony with each other, or in significant conflict.

The ego holds the tension between the innate urges of the 'it' and the socially-shaped constraining influence of the 'over-I' (or super-ego).

# Q&A Mini-Paper No.2: Freud's Psychoanalysis

# Rusland Diploma Assignment on Freud and Jung

# Q&A Mini-Paper No.3: Jung's Analytical Therapy 

~~~

~~~

Most systems of counselling and psychotherapy involve the counsellor in asking probing questions.   (The exception is the Rogerian system of person-centred counselling, which avoids using leading questions).  The reason for probing questions is to allow the therapist to build up a diagnostic picture of the client's problem(s).  However, when this kind of questioning is done unskillfully - and sometimes when it is not - the client may respond with irritability.  Here is a psycho-dynamic consideration of this issue, which answers the question 'Why put yourself through psychotherapy, given this probing question irritation?:

"Since the probing aspect of psychotherapy is so often disliked, why should anyone want to put themselves through encounters of this sort?

"One of the reasons is that it is a dull sort of relief indeed to be shut off from one's inner life, which is what is achieved by the excessive use of defenses (against probing questions).  It is a greater relief to be able to open up even though doing so is not easy.  That is why Aeschylus ... spoke of the 'discipline of suffering' as a 'mercy of the gods'.  Psychotherapy at its best can help enlarge the mind, and illuminate its contents.  Nor does it all have to be trial by suffering.  It is not always recognized that psychotherapy and psychoanalysis aim to increase common sense and a grasp of reality, as well as opening one up to the nuances of emotional and imaginative life.  There is an intrinsic pleasure in coming to know what is going on inside oneself and in others, and to grasp more fully many aspects of life, both the practical and the emotional.  Moreover it can also be a revelation to recognise the impact of our inner worlds, our psychic reality, upon our thinking, attitudes and perceptions of ourselves, since it is as influential, or even more influential, than the effects of actual childhood events.

"Thus in all psychotherapy, although we need to take fully into account historical facts, or the facts of an individual's day-to-day circumstances, it is important to recognize that we have a world within us which powerfully affects how we operate and how we perceive things".  Page 169 of 'Talking Cure: Mind and method of the Tavistock Clinic'.  David Taylor (editor).  Duckworth: 1999.

# What is REBT counselling? 

# What is Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy (CENT)?

A recent issue of Scientific American contains evidence that psycho-dynamic counseling is highly effective for a range of issues, and that participants in the research not only improved as a result of the counselling, but continued to improve on their own, many months after the counselling sessions ended.

The psychodynamic approach to counselling and psychotherapy is also misunderstood because of public prejudices against Freud and his theory of psychosexual stages of development. If you want to experience a review of the modern Freudian theory in an academic context, then take a look at this debate at the University of Richmond:

You could also take a look at one of my Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy papers - my CENT Paper No.9, - which integrates Freud and the cognitive-behavioural models of the mind, in a way that helps counsellors and therapists to improve their understanding of the mind of the counselling client. 

~~~

We have looked at examples of cognitive and emotive approaches to counselling and psychotherapy, and now we will take a look at a role play demonstrating what Narrative Therapy is like, as a process of counselling:

For counselling and psychotherapy students:  If you are a counselling student, then it is important to note that there are three preexisting approaches to narrative counselling and therapy, as described by McLeod (2003), pages 227-238[1].  These are: the psychodynamic approach; the cognitive/constructivist approach; and the social constructionist approach. 

(1) The psychodynamic approachto the use of narratives in counseling and therapy focuses on the ways that the client’s stories can reveal habitual ways of relating; and the counsellor can thus use those stories to help the client to ‘re-author’ their lives: (Strupp and Binder, 1984[2]; Luborsky and Crits-Christoph, 1990)[3].  The main emphasis in the psychodynamic approach to narrative use in counselling and psychotherapy is in helping to identify the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT).  This CCRT then provides the basic agenda for their work of counselling.

(2) The cognitive/constructivist approach to the use of narratives in counselling and therapy focuses on two strategies: (A) Identifying stories that conflict with each other, which provides the possibility of using ‘cognitive dissonance’ to help with the challenge of rewriting and integrating conflicted schemas (or frames, scripts, stories) in the client’s long-term memory[4]; and:(B) The use of metaphor. For example: my use of the images of being a ‘little mouse’ and then ‘a big moral cat’, in my Story of Origins.  Metaphors can be depowering and empowering, and the therapist can help the client to develop more empowering metaphors for their problem roles, themes, or characters in their most difficult stories[5].

(3) The social constructionist approachto narrative therapy and counseling is based on the idea that we are social beings born into a story-telling culture; that we are surrounded by stories, myths, legends; that these stories preceded our existence, and we take on some of the story roles and themes into which we are thrown at birth.  The main contributors to the development of this tradition were White and Epston, a couple of Australasian family therapists: (White and Epston, 1990)[6].  Since people are seen as occupying a family- or community-generated narrative or story, the solution is to ‘externalize’ this story, and get the client to see it as not part of them, so they can step away from the roles specified in the story; or they can re-author their story in various ways.  Like CENT therapy, this form of therapy uses both spoken dialogue and written narratives to help the client to unearth their dominant narratives and to change them.

CENT counseling and therapy does not fit comfortably within any of the three narrative traditions outlined above.  Neither was CENT directly inspired by the creators of any of those three traditions.  Nevertheless, we can easily see that CENTinvolves an integration of traditions (1) and (3) – the psychodynamic and the social constructionist.  But CENTis much more than that; and is a completely unique approach to narrative use in psychotherapy and counseling, in that we utilize the psychodynamic approach, the cognitive approach, and the social constructionist approach – plus Transactional Analysis and moral philosophy - to inform our understanding of human development and individual functioning in the world.  In Chapters 9 and 10, we will explore how the CENT model of the social nature of the individual is constructed.” Extract from Chapter 7 of ‘Therapy After Ellis, Berne, Freud and the Buddha’, by Dr Jim Byrne, in press. 

~~~

Obviously, there are lots of overlaps between these systems of counseling and psychotherapy, and some obvious differences. These role plays are a little stilted, since they are not genuine counselling sessions; but they should give you some sense of what would be involved in coming to see me, or another counsellor/therapist, and working on your issues.

Before I move on to Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy (CENT), I want you see a demonstration of a form of counselling called Gestalt Therapy, developed by Dr Fritz Perls.  Again this is a role play, and not a real session, but it conveys the essence of how a Gestalt counsellor would work:

I have used Gestalt Therapy in my own life more than once.  See, for example, the relevant section of CENT Paper No.10: The Story of Relationship. 

# What is Counselling? 

# Counselling all over the world...

Another component of CENT counselling and therapy came from Transactional Analysis (TA), which was created by Dr Eric Berne in the post-war period in the mid-twentieth century.  Here's a little video clip of Mary Goulding MSW being interviewed about just what TA counsellors do in their sessions with counseling clients:

# What is Transactional Analysis, and how is it used in CENT counselling? 

~~~

~~~

Please support the public educational role of this web site by making a small donation:

~~~

Next, in Part 3 of the Models Used in CENT counselling, I explore the use of Windows 4 and 5 to reduce emotional upsets about the same problems as before, arising out of the economic stress of job redundancy or business decline/failure.  Please take a look and see how you can apply this system to your own emotional, behavioural and/or relationship problems:

And since CENT originally came out of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), you might also want to consult the following web-page:

# What is Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)?

# Counselling all over the world...

Some people think that REBT counselling and therapy is too insensitive to the client's needs, and I think that it is important to clarify this issue.  Therefore, I made the following video to show that I consider empathy towards the counselling client to be one of the most important principles of good, effective counselling and therapy.  This video models how to respond empathetically to a distressing problem presented by a client.  Here's the video on The Role of Empathy in REBT: 

To see Part 2 of this video series on the ABCs of REBT, please go here: What is Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)?

 

~~~

Attachment-based approaches to counselling maintain that the early childhood experiences of the client have a huge impact on the shape of their adult lives.  "My approach to understanding emotional life is a systemic one.  I argue that human beings are open systems permeated by other people as well as by plants and air and water.  We are shaped by other people as well as by what we breathe and eat.  Both our physiological systems and our mental systems are developed in relationship with other people - and this happens most intensely and leaves the biggest mark in infancy".  For this reason, CENT counselling is very interested in what happened to you in your childhood.

Quotation from: Sue Gerhardt (2004) Why Love Matters: How affection shapes a baby's brain.  London: Routledge.  Page 10.  (40)

~~~

If you like the content of this site, please share it with your favourite social networking group (e.g. at Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Bebo, LinkedIn, etc).