Advantages and Disadvantages of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Psychology is a complex science, in which there are very different paradigms which study the psyche from different perspectives.

At present, one of the best valued and that has the most empirical evidence is the cognitive-behavioral, which has been generating a large number of techniques in its therapeutic use.

The application of the therapies of this theoretical current has a series of great advantages, but it also presents some limitations. and drawbacks compared to those of other paradigms. Throughout this article we are going to discuss some of the main advantages and disadvantages of the therapy. cognitive-behavioral, in order to learn from them and assess how they can be improved and in what sense they can learn from others currents and developments.

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Basic Definition

The type of therapy and set of techniques that are based on the cognitive-behavioral model are known as cognitive-behavioral therapy.

. This type of therapy is based on the identification and subsequent work on dysfunctional beliefs and thoughts. that generate suffering or dysfunction for the patient, as well as their way of relating emotionally to they.

It starts from the cognitive-behavioral model, which is heir to the behaviorist perspective to which the advances of cognitivism are incorporated. This model is based on a strict methodology based on the scientific method, investigating based on the empirical observation and experimentation and based on the verification and falsification of hypotheses experimental. It is intended to scientifically and objectively evaluate human behavior and the mental processes that govern, operationalizing and making measurable abstract constructs such as those of cognition and emotion.

The main work is carried out with the cognitions and with the behaviors that are carried out, with an approach in which it is intended to teach the patient to modify their expectations, beliefs and fears as well as to alter the dysfunctional behavior patterns that are carried out because of these. It works through learning and the modification of cognitions and behaviors, the therapist being able to have different degrees of directness in the therapy despite the fact that his role is to guide or support the change process.

Main advantages

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most valued scientifically, and it is undoubtedly the theoretical current that is taught to a greater degree at the university level.

A large majority of current psychologists follow or have initially started from the cognitive-behavioral approach to develop professionally. And this is because this therapy offers a large number of advantages over other approaches, among which we can mention the following.

1. Based on the scientific method

One of the most outstanding virtues of cognitive behavioral therapy is that the model of which employs an experimental methodology that allows objective analysis of therapy results, so that it is closely associated with the scientific method.

It is possible to elaborate hypotheses based on previous information to later verify them experimentally and even replicate their results. In other words, it establishes a methodology that allows psychology to advance as a science.

2. Empirical evidence of its great effectiveness

cognitive behavioral therapy It is the type of therapy that presents the greatest empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of the techniques and subtypes of therapy. that it uses, based on the reduction of the symptoms of the different disorders to be treated.

3. Flexibility

Cognitive-behavioral therapy has as another of its great advantages the fact that it is extremely versatile.. And it is that we can often find how specialists in this type of therapy accept and integrate techniques from other approaches, such as psychodynamic, humanistic or gestalt therapy.

Likewise, it evolves incorporating new ways of acting or relating to the patient (such as constructivism) as well as new theories and techniques (such as contextual ones).

4. Subject as active agent

In some paradigms of psychology the subject is seen as a passive agent, someone who reacts to the environment practically automatically.

The cognitive-behavioral approach was one of the first in which it began to be seen that it is the action of the subject himself that can lead to overcoming or the reduction of symptoms: the therapy aims to give instruments to the subject so that by himself he can face or modify what he generates discomfort.

5. Evaluate the role of cognition in behavior

Our thoughts, beliefs, perspectives, and abilities, as well as the way we process information from the environment, are analyzable and workable from the paradigm cognitive-behavioral. The fact that not only the content is worked on is important, but also how it is reached and the structures and mental schemes that influence its appearance.

6. Highly systematized

In addition to adhering to the scientific method, another of the great advantages of this therapy is its high degree of systematization.

Although it depends on the technique in question, there may be a greater degree of freedom, generally the techniques used by the therapy cognitive-behavioral have quite clear bases, structure and way of proceeding (although the therapist will have to adapt to the answers that give the patient).

7. Allows you to acquire skills and abilities

Cognitive-behavioral therapy relies heavily on learning as a means to generate, modify, or eliminate maladaptive behaviors or mental products. Likewise, their performance makes the subject acquire capabilities that they did not previously possess or that could benefit from a change or a training, in a way that can not only help to solve a current problem but also favor and optimize the adequacy and adaptation in the middle.

8. Effective in a wide number of conditions

Another of the great advantages of this type of therapy is its wide applicability in the majority of existing mental disorders, and even in non-pathological situations. Thus, you can work on problems such as anxiety, depression, obsessive problems, eating disorders or sexual disorders, among many others.

Disadvantages and limitations of the cognitive-behavioral model

The cognitive-behavioral therapy model, as we have seen, is very useful and allows the treatment of a large number of mental disorders. However, It has a number of limitations that should be taken into account. Among them we can highlight the following.

1. Focus on the current symptom

cognitive behavioral therapy focuses largely on working with the difficulties and the set of symptoms that are currently present. In other words, he works from the present and on what is happening to us now. Although the past is taken into account and explored in order to explain the current situation, at the level of therapy, the causes that started the problem that today afflicts the patient are not usually treated directly. subject.

And on many occasions it is necessary to work on the elements that originated the discomfort in the first place, because otherwise the discomfort can appear in another form.

2. overly cognitivistic

Although one of the advantages of this therapy is that it works in depth on aspects as relevant as beliefs, expectations and thought processes, factors of great relevance when it comes to explaining our behaviors, the truth is that in occasions Cognitive-behavioral therapy can err on the side of reductionism and to value aspects such as emotion and motivation to a lesser extent.

It is not that emotional elements do not work, but the work in this area is done from a rational perspective and not so emotional or experiential.

3. Effective, but... because?

Cognitive-behavioral therapies are highly effective and the various studies carried out usually attest to this.

However, offer little information about why they are effective or why they can sometimes fail. It has been observed which techniques work best, but little attention has been paid to why.

4. Focus on the individual: little appreciation of the context

Cognitive-behavioral therapy bears in mind that the environment is a relevant factor in the origin, maintenance, and even treatment of mental disorders, but tends to focus exclusively on the subject who has the problem or difficulty and leaves aside most of the contextual elements that affect the issues in question.

This limitation seems to be being solved with the application of third-generation therapies, which little by little are becoming increasingly popular.

5. Aseptic and instrumental therapeutic relationship

Cognitive-behavioral therapy takes into account the high value of the therapeutic relationship, but historically it has tended to be seen as a way through which to apply the techniques. In recent years, however, and especially in contextual therapies, more and more work has been done on the therapeutic relationship. as a therapeutic element per se, probably one of the most (if not the most) relevant to predict the success of the therapy.

Some patients also indicate that this type of technique, although effective, is cold and does not value or they end up understanding the suffering they suffer, something that makes it difficult for them to trust them and for them to have success.

6. Possible stiffness as a consequence

Classic cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on combating, changing, or modifying the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that cause suffering to the subject..

There is a strategy to oppose suffering, which at first may seem positive, but which can nevertheless push the patient to behave increasingly rigid aimed at avoiding pain and leading to a poorly adaptive behavior pattern, which in turn may be the origin of new sufferings.

Bibliographic references:

• Horse, V.E. (1998). Manual of therapy techniques and behavior modification. XXI century.

• dear, i. (2009). Theoretical-practical manual of Cognitive Psychotherapies. Desclée de Brouwer Psychology Library.

• Villa, J. & Fernandez, M.C. (2004). Psychological treatments. Experimental perspective. Madrid: Pyramid.