Techniques and Intervention Strategies Flashcards

A therapist helps a client identify the 'should' statements driving perfectionism and replace them with preferences. This targets which cognitive distortion?

Answer: Should statements / musturbation

Should statements involve rigid imperatives that create unnecessary pressure; restructuring converts them into flexible preferences to reduce distress.

Which CBT technique is specifically designed to break the link between unpleasant physical sensations and catastrophic misinterpretations in panic disorder?

Answer: Interoceptive exposure

Interoceptive exposure deliberately induces feared bodily sensations (e.g., via spinning or breathing exercises) to demonstrate they are harmless and reduce fear of sensations.

When a client identifies themselves entirely by a failure ('I am a loser'), the therapist counters by listing the client's varied attributes. This counters which distortion?

Answer: Labeling

Labeling involves attaching a global negative identity label based on one event; restructuring highlights complexity and multiple attributes to counter this.

A key component of Meichenbaum's Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) in the skills-acquisition phase is:

Answer: Teaching coping self-statements and problem-solving skills

SIT's skills-acquisition phase teaches concrete coping strategies including positive self-statements, relaxation, and problem-solving to use during stress.

A therapist using the 'pie chart technique' for guilt asks a client to allocate percentage of responsibility for an event to all contributing factors before assigning their own share. This addresses:

Answer: Personalization and over-responsibility

The pie chart technique distributes causal responsibility across multiple factors, reducing the client's tendency to personalize and over-attribute blame to themselves.

Safety behaviors in anxiety disorders are problematic in CBT because they:

Answer: Block disconfirmation of threat beliefs and maintain anxiety

Safety behaviors prevent clients from learning that the feared outcome would not occur even without their protective actions, thereby maintaining the anxiety cycle.

In CBT for PTSD (e.g., CPT), 'stuck points' refer to:

Answer: Maladaptive beliefs about the trauma that impede recovery

Stuck points in CPT are specific cognitions—often about safety, trust, power, esteem, or intimacy—that conflict with or overly assimilate the trauma and prevent natural recovery.