Therapy

During the behavior therapy, as a homework assignment the therapist required Stan to speak to his professor regarding problems or issues he faces in class. Dr. Corey never indicates any disappointment because Stan chickened out but rather he asked Stan questions regarding the reasons why he never made it through. I find interesting the way he made it seem that by Stan talking about the two people in front of him being the reasons behind his withdrawal as being reasons to justify failure. That is individuals justify their failures by giving themselves reasons that seem adequate whereas these reasons help hide behind the real reasons for failure (Antony, Roemer, & American Psychological Association, 2011). Additionally, Dr. Corey made Stan realize that it should be his self-will that requires to him speak to the professor and not the doctor’s assignment per se. I think that Dr. Corey handled this case perfectly since he even trained Stan in ways of approaching his professor apart from making him realize the importance.

During the Cognitive session I find that the belief identification and modification technique worked very well (Beck & Freeman, 1990). Stan realized that the beliefs he enforced in himself that he is a loser and that he always messes things up can be changed.  This helped Stan realize that this is self-imposed psychological obstacle and the only way through it is active disputation like calling the girl.

Reality therapy is not simplistic at all since it entails and encompasses cognition, history and emotion. In this session, Stan identified what he would to do based on his historical inactivity along with improving his emotional state by being more engaging (Dr. Corey, 2014). Additionally, therapy is not all about speaking it must involve evaluation through some action. This action should be planned and tied to some time limit to avoid the usual postponing and excusals.

References

Antony, M. M., Roemer, L., & American Psychological Association. (2011). Behavior therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Beck, A. T., & Freeman, A. (1990). Cognitive therapy of personality disorders. New York: Guilford Press.

Dr. Corey. (2014). Cengage Learning Custom Solutions. Retrieved September 3, from http://www.cengage.com/custom/Liberty/index.html