Hello Dear People,
today I will talk about goal directed approach. Goals are part of our life even if we do not realise it. Personal goals, health goals, career goals etc. Goals can give us a purpose but also a sense of achievement, moving forward, experiencing progress or/and a sense of fulfilment. The study of Rose & Smith (2018) showed that a goal achievement along with therapeutic alliance are two significant components influencing recovery for patients. Not all type of therapy set up goals even though there is a general reason why person comes to the therapy. Some types of therapy are spontaneous and free flowing which means following what comes up in the present moment in a therapy and exploring that. So even when for example anxiety is introduced as a problem, an approach can include free conversation about an issue and invitation to self reflection. However, a goal directed approach sets up specific goals at the beginning of therapy that are kept in a focus throughout a process. The questioning is targeted towards learning about components of an issue, its context, triggers and influences that contribute to its occurrence. Against popular myth about CBT being focus on here and now, CBT therapist is open to explore past experiences and help a client to process them accordingly. In CBT the case formulation is used to help gather needed information where a behavioural chain technique can help to break particular components into pieces and investigate them in detail. Then various techniques are applied including emotional, behaviour or cognitive exercises that are aimed towards reaching set goals.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy introduces a Standard Goal Setting Approach breaking it into five main steps:
- Identifying your goal.
- Choosing a first step.
- Identifying further steps required to achieve the goal and breaking them into achievable mini goals.
- Behavioural activation towards taking a first step.
The role of therapist is helping you to keep focus on a goal, emotional support, collaboration and flexibility around the process in order to overcome obstacles on the way, and at best creativity with a critical thinking skills in problem solving. For a CBT therapist it is crucial to measure improvements by applying various feedback forms or using standard scales 0 to 10. Another popular myth about CBT is that this type of therapy requires paper work however skilled therapist is able to include components of a CBT therapy through dialogue minimalizing forms that can be felt as overwhelming. Yet, keeping notes and practising some type of friendly short forms add more power into achieving your goals. So stay open.
To the next 😉
