Reflections on Cognitive and Behavioral Theory

I wrote this reflective essay for our theory and practice class at the University of Rochester. The professor asked us to reflect after learning about behavioral and cognitive theoretical content. I have included my reflection below.

Reflective Essay 2

This essay critically reflects on my learnings from Module 2 - The behavioral & cognitive-behavioral tradition, including the "third wave" (mindfulness-based), through both readings of theory, class discussions, and personal experiences. It draws primarily from Chapters 8, 9, and 11 of Theoretical Models of Counseling and Psychotherapy (Fall, Holden, & Marquis, 2017).

After WWII, multiple groups of professionals and scholars criticized psychoanalysis for being too slow to address widespread trauma. Behaviorism, advanced by Pavlov, Wolpe, and Skinner, emerged as a first wave and practical alternative focused on learning and reinforcement. Bandura created social cognitive theory, influencing Beck’s development of cognitive therapy. Together, behavioral and cognitive schools merged to form a second wave, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). By the 1990s, a third wave began, combining CBT with Mindfulness in forms such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) (Fall, Holden, & Marquis, 2017, Ch. 8).

As I reflect on these schools, I see a common thread of scientific, empiricist, reductionist, determinist, and evolutionary (learning) qualities. A person's mind is more of a blank slate, influenced by the environment. I see this as following the British empiricist model of Locke and then Darwin, and fictionalized in works like Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. This model casts the more primal, passionate, or poetic intuitive life as lesser, and promotes a view that being rational is progress.

Another founding figure in this field is Aaron Beck. Beck felt mental disorders came from incorrect thoughts. Dissatisfied with psychoanalytic theory himself, Beck created Cognitive Therapy to master his own anxiety issues. Philosophically, Beck based Cognitive Therapy on phenomenology, the ancient Greeks, the Stoics, and Immanuel Kant. Along with theoretical structures from Freud and scientific empiricism. Cognitive therapists do not see the human mind as a pure tabula rasa like behaviorists, believing humans are not purely passive and subject to environmental forces. Cognitive therapy places focus on human agency and being able to control our conscious thoughts (Fall, Holden, & Marquis, 2017, Ch. 9).

Central to cognitive therapy is the idea of schemas, which act like conceptual rules that govern our everyday behavior as well as emotional modes of human beings, which can either be "major" when one is emotionally reactive, or "minor" when one is emotionally restrained. A cognitive therapist believes that a healthy person is one whose beliefs are rational and in touch with reality, not clouded by bias or excess emotionality. Cognitive theory posits that mental illnesses dissipate as personality evolves towards greater rationality.

Reflecting on Beck's work, I found it very compelling. As a "thinker" (or "overthinker") myself, I felt this type of work was right in my wheelhouse. Much of anxiety could come from incorrect thoughts, and I can see directly how using cognitive therapy techniques to change thoughts could, over time, lead to finding more peace.

While CBT emphasizes changing thought patterns, the third-wave of cognitive behavioral, Mindfulness, invites a different kind of transformation - acceptance rather than correction. Mindfulness-based interventions include ACT and DBT. Mindfulness is rooted in Eastern spiritual practices and founded on awareness-style meditative techniques. Importantly, these techniques are not trying to change our thought content, like Cognitive Therapy, but instead are trying to change our relation to our thoughts and decrease our judgment of the thought (Brown, Marquis, & Guiffrida, 2013). Our readings also covered Reality Therapy and its underlying theory, Choice Theory. Reality Therapy focuses efforts on personal responsibility, real and practical immediate change, and actions to take in the here and now instead of focusing on the past (Fall, Holden, & Marquis, 2017, Ch. 11).

I appreciated both the Mindfulness techniques and the examples of ACT and DBT. I was not a fan of Reality Therapy (Wubbolding, n.d.), as it appeared to dismiss social forces affecting clients. Our class discussions directed me to believe that Mindfulness practices seemed to encourage more empathy and relational acceptance.

Overall, this module expanded my understanding of how behavior, cognition, and Mindfulness each frame human change. This module challenged me to recognize that I must balance my own inclination toward rational analysis with relational intuition and cultural humility. As a counselor, I hope to balance structured interventions like CBT with humanistic and relational awareness that honors each client’s lived reality, while also recognizing that true healing often requires systemic and social change to ensure society meets people’s basic needs before higher self-actualization is possible. My experiences reminded me that effective counseling begins with trust and presence, and that modeling desired behavior can be more effective than didactic instruction, and I plan to incorporate these learnings into my work and future practice.

References

Fall, K. A., Holden, J. M., & Marquis, A. (2017). Theoretical models of counseling and psychotherapy (4th ed.). Routledge.

Wubbolding, R. (n.d.). Reality therapy with Robert Wubbolding [Video]. Psychotherapy.net. https://www-psychotherapy-net.ezp.lib.rochester.edu/stream/rochester/video?vid=091

Brown, A. P., Marquis, A., & Guiffrida, D. A. (2013). Mindfulness-based interventions in counseling. Journal of Counseling & Development, 91(1), 96–104. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2013.00077.x