The behavioral approach is based in the most basic of brain functions: actions and subsequent reactions. The basis of the theory is that one can learn that certain things come with complementary things and react accordingly.
The first to truly take interest in this theory was Ivan PavlovRef. He would ring a bell, announcing dinner for his dogs. Eventually, he noticed that the dogs began salivating at the ring of the bell, whether or not the dinner was actually there, having associated the sound with food.
Later, John Broadus Watson expanded the theory into what we know it as today. His point of view describes mental illnesses and disorders as follows: they are not a product of hereditary traits, or innate cognitive wrongs, but rather a result of the environment in which a person’s upbringing happens. In other words, these pathologicalRef behaviors do not come from within; they are learned.
When applied to trauma, it’s rather simple. According to behaviorism, your trauma is a distress reaction associated with a neutral stimulusRef, making it so that you learn to be afraid, wary of and avoid said stimulus, now conditional.
Through this conditioning process, you now feel that distress that originated during the traumatic event anytime that stimulus appears. Let’s demonstrate this with an example: let’s say that as a child, you were involved in a minor car accident on the highway; now, as an adult, you may feel fine driving on residential streets, but tense up excessively anytime you are on a highway, even if there are no other vehicles around. It has become a conditional stimulus.
The best way to treat trauma through this approach is exposure therapy, i.e. being confronted by your fears in a controlled environment, in order to unlearn the negative reaction associated to it. We will be utilizing this technique through your visualizations to help you sever the conditioning yourself.
The cognitive approach to psychology was developed in the 1950’s and 60’s by a psychologist named Ulric Neisser. This name may not sound familiar. It’s because Neisser, even though he was the founding father of this approach didn’t really popularize it. A name that might ring a is Jean Piaget which perfected the approach and made giant steps in the developmental side of this psychological approach. This approach was a huge stepping stone in psychology, because it differentiates from the behavioural approach which was the basis of the majority of approaches. As it says in the name, this approach examines the meaning you attach to what happens in your life. Thoughts are at the roots of this approach because they influence how you feel. These emotions that are created from your previous thoughts alters your personality and how you behave. It is directly linked to trauma as a way to treat it because it helps you understand how the traumatic event changed your way of thinking.
The cognitive approach believes that the event you suffered is not the sole reason for why you are in a traumatic situation. It rather believes that how you interpret the event is very important as it affects how you feel afterwards. Even when two people live the same event, a death of a loved one for example, they won’t have the same reactions because they don’t have the same way of thinking. That’s what the cognitive approach is all about.
The therapist in this approach doesn’t only tell you what to think and what to do. Rather, they work with you and help you explore the inner cogs of your thoughts to identify patterns that your brain forms. Those patterns are contributing to your distress. The cognitive approach then works as a duo rather than a patient-therapist relationship. Bothe sides have to do their part to help each other.
In this approach, trauma affects how your mind works because it changes your beliefs about yourself and what’s around you. Your safety is then put through a new perspective that you create. Cognitive therapy helps you see those new beliefs clearly to reconstruct the ones that are harming you and causing you injuries.
The main concept of the cognitive therapy is the separation of the mind in schemas. Schemas are parts of your brain that help you make senses of what’s happening, and it determines what you feel. Those schemas put a rational interpretation of new information by compiling your past experiences and shaping new though based on them. Those core thoughts that were forged from the past determine how you view the world. For example, if you were someone who always thought the world was safe, you had a schema that found safety in things around you.
Those schemas aren’t completely safe from modifications. Trauma has a huge impact on how the schemas are constructed and how they are modified. It can shatter or distort them. For example, if you have had a traumatic event where your life was compromised, you may begin to feel unsafe and find the world around you dangerous even though your schema is supposed to see safety. These modifications are not just normal thoughts that come and go. They are deep psychological structures that shape how you see life and how your body feels on a day-to-day basis.
When schemas change, you may feel overwhelmed, but that’s where a cognitive approach is beneficial. It will help you reconstruct those schemas and the world around you will feel more stable and realistic to your own beliefs.
The goal of the cognitive approach is to help you recognize how your thoughts can be bearers of anxiety, fear and guilt after a traumatic incident. By knowing how you think and how these thoughts affect your emotions, you begin to fall back in control of your body and senses. Cognitive psychologists call this process cognitive restructuring.
When you reconstruct your thinking patterns, you feel healthier, and you will gain access to a better perspective on life. This new balance will help you feel less overwhelmed and more capable of understanding situations. You will begin understanding the reality you live in without blaming yourself or without picturing everyone around you as a criminal.
Psychologists at the association of psychology remind us that intrusive thoughts and excessive worry are all natural in the cognitive approach. These thoughts come from how your mind tries to make sense of the traumatic event. These interpretations make it so that your mind becomes distorted, and your body becomes unbalanced. It then creates trauma and PTSD which are the most common responses to traumatic events.
A cognitive therapist, like we learned, will try to establish a connection to benefit you. They will try to help you give sense to your thoughts and make them clear. Questions that cognitive therapist often ask are:
The goal of this therapy is not to force you onto anything. It doesn’t force medicine or habits that you should apply. It only helps you reorganize your mind and think in a positive way about yourself. Being more aware of your thoughts and schemas will help you finding stability and a healthy balance in life.
The cognitive approach can be a very good way of understanding what the real problem is and what causes you real harm with your trauma. By examining your thoughts and challenging them face on, you begin to feel stronger and more grounded. It’s also beneficial because it gives you tools to build yourself back up after having your schemas scrambled by trauma.