Contemporary Cognitive Behavioral Theory Analysis

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) describes Schizophrenia as a severe and conceivably disabling cognitive disorder (APA, 2013). With a known heritable component, Schizophrenia is most likely to have notable development during young adulthood and is symptomatically evident by periods of remission and relapse throughout the individual’s lifespan (APA, 2013). During the relapse episodes that are experienced, a manifestation of symptoms include several deficits in reality testing, two or more of the following positive symptoms which must be present for at least one month;
• “delusions which are outlandish beliefs, ideas which are resistant to rational or logical dispute, and are a contradiction from others,
• hallucinations
With these founding premises of the cognitive theory, Aaron Beck formulated principles of change that developed into what is best known today as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). As the generally considered founder of the Contemporary Cognitive Behavioral Theory, his cognitive theory of change served as a trail blazer in the psychoanalytical field for interventions proven to have high levels of efficacy. One of the main concepts in Becks cognitive theory is the notion that the majority of the presenting symptoms individuals were discussing were a result of a systematic inclination to perceive their meaningful environments in a negative and biased manner (Beck, 2006). As he further explored this concept, Beck developed the model that he introduced as the negative cognitive triad which included the negative views about the self, the world, and the future (Beck, 2006). He further elucidated the causal implications of schemas, internal beliefs, and tendencies in regards to how individuals process information that serve to solidify their existing beliefs (Beck,
By accomplishing this, he developed significant advances in cognitive psychology that provided an evidentiary foundation in assessing the way existing beliefs could become impressionable preconceptions on the way information is processed and how these developed set of clinical procedures could offset those tendencies (Beck). After nearly three decades of succeeding exploration of Becks early theoretical findings, the studies he has conducted are now the empirical support of these early claims (Beck, 2006). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is now one of the most widely recognized interventions that is substantiated by empirically supported data for its level of psychosocial treatment (Hollon, Stewart, & Strunk, 2006). Furthermore, the efficacy of its evidence is one of the leading interventions that is able to extend the approach to a broad spectrum of disorders, including Schizophrenia (Hollon, Stewart, & Strunk,