This week I was able to meet with the teacher I will be working with on my research project. It was a one hour meeting with the school psychologist, the teacher, and myself. It was difficult to get the project on focus since I knew very little about the program. I had asked the school psychologist for information about the program in the past and she had indicated that she would explain it to me in further detail at some time. It hadn't felt appropriate to ask during the meeting about what the ED program was about, so we mainly focused on the question.
Since I was not presented with the project and the school psychologist was, I let her handle running the questions for most of the meeting. Had I been running the meeting, I'm sure I would have done things differently, but it did not seem like it was my place to do so. The primary goal of the research project was to see whether students with ED were making long-term progress if they had been put in their program. The program had been adapted about 5 years ago and very little data (if any) had been collected about the success of the program. The teacher seemed interested in how their program compared with programs around the nation.
I attempted to redirect the research question towards a multi-level goal instead of one goal by asking the teacher whether what he was asking was "How effective is the program?" He agreed that it was essentially what they wanted to know. Without any knowledge about how the program originated, what their goals were, whether it was research-based, and more, it was difficult to provide input on what should happen next. This was very similar to how our class created the V-Diagram about this research question.
Since this was a preliminary meeting, I am certain that things will become clearer as we go along. The teacher is enthusiastic about having a practicum student to work out some of these questions into a researchable format. I hope that the school psychologist feels the same. I think that if I am given the opportunity to work on this, I will do a successful job. Basically, I am feeling a lack of opportunity and resources to do what I am required to do. When I asked the school psychologist for more information, she informed me that she would give it to me later (for the 2nd or 3rd week in a row). When I asked the teacher those questions, he said he could get them to me and was overrided by the school psychologist who said "I can get those to you," instead. I feel that perhaps there is an aura of "practicum students are not qualified to do or understand _____," or maybe she feels I should not ask basic questions. It's really difficult to determine at this point and I hope things get better. I like the school psychologist, I would just like to be doing more.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Mental Health - Cognitive Therapy
This week we learned about Cognitive Therapy. Cognitive therapy does not deal with the unconscious mind. Rather, it deals with automatic responses to core beliefs. Typically, a client will believe that they are unable to change a core belief -- which can be true. The goal is not to change a core belief, but the attitude about the appropriate response. The goal of the clinician is to be an "active agent," or someone who helps alter pattens in the client's life.
I found that it was difficult to help convince people of alternate routes to take. It seems like there are people in this world who simply want to wallow in their own self-destructive behavior. I am a strong believer of the idea that people can only change if they want to change. That's what can make a therapist's job so successful is that a lot of times people who see them have some hope of change. In Theo's case, while he attended the therapy session for his girlfriend, he at least had some motivation for wanting to change for himself.
Not everyone has that same motivation. It can be difficult to see people engage in destructive behavior and enjoy it. I could see cognitive therapy being helpful for people who are sincerely interested in changing their patterns. For those that are not, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) may be more up their alley. Self-defeating ideas are a key aspect of REBT. The idea of REBT is to help people move from irrational thoughts to rational ones.
These types of thoughts, like in the case of Elena, can include ideas like "I can't do it," "I'm never going to do anything or go anywhere," "it was like she didn't care or didn't listen," or "If I make the wrong decision, I will regret it forever." While REBT also includes finding patterns and helping to change them, I think it might be more successful with people who reject change on their own. This is because I think that when people are presented with their own words, they generally realize how irrational they sound. By acknowledging the irrational thoughts, I believe it could motivate people to see there is a need for change.
While I was not presented with a great opportunity to utilize some of these therapies alone, I did attempt to integrate the ideas when I talked with various people. With one of my friends, I asked them how much time they thought they spent worrying. When I was told that they didn't know, I asked them to keep track of how much and get back to me. I am hoping to receive a response so that I can see if they might be willing to limit that amount to 1/2 to 1 hour if it goes over (which it likely will). This is a technique that will help them to gain control over their worrying and hopefully put those thoughts into perspective.
I found that it was difficult to help convince people of alternate routes to take. It seems like there are people in this world who simply want to wallow in their own self-destructive behavior. I am a strong believer of the idea that people can only change if they want to change. That's what can make a therapist's job so successful is that a lot of times people who see them have some hope of change. In Theo's case, while he attended the therapy session for his girlfriend, he at least had some motivation for wanting to change for himself.
Not everyone has that same motivation. It can be difficult to see people engage in destructive behavior and enjoy it. I could see cognitive therapy being helpful for people who are sincerely interested in changing their patterns. For those that are not, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) may be more up their alley. Self-defeating ideas are a key aspect of REBT. The idea of REBT is to help people move from irrational thoughts to rational ones.
These types of thoughts, like in the case of Elena, can include ideas like "I can't do it," "I'm never going to do anything or go anywhere," "it was like she didn't care or didn't listen," or "If I make the wrong decision, I will regret it forever." While REBT also includes finding patterns and helping to change them, I think it might be more successful with people who reject change on their own. This is because I think that when people are presented with their own words, they generally realize how irrational they sound. By acknowledging the irrational thoughts, I believe it could motivate people to see there is a need for change.
While I was not presented with a great opportunity to utilize some of these therapies alone, I did attempt to integrate the ideas when I talked with various people. With one of my friends, I asked them how much time they thought they spent worrying. When I was told that they didn't know, I asked them to keep track of how much and get back to me. I am hoping to receive a response so that I can see if they might be willing to limit that amount to 1/2 to 1 hour if it goes over (which it likely will). This is a technique that will help them to gain control over their worrying and hopefully put those thoughts into perspective.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
