Cognitive Dissonance Therapy: Transforming Conflicting Beliefs
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However, they may still choose to abuse these substances because they block unwanted thoughts and feelings. Drug addiction manifests clinically as compulsive drug seeking, drug use, and cravings that can persist and recur even after extended periods of abstinence. From a psychological and neurological perspective, addiction is a disorder of altered cognition. The brain regions and processes that underlie addiction overlap extensively with those that are involved in essential cognitive functions, including learning, memory, attention, reasoning, and impulse control.
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Therapists provide tools and coping mechanisms to manage conflicting thoughts and emotions, fostering a more coherent mindset. In fact, according to Cooper (2007), “Festinger’s insistence that cognitive dissonance was like a drive that needed to be reduced implied that people were going to have to find some way of resolving their inconsistencies. People do not just prefer to eat, rather than starve; they are biologically driven to eat. Similarly, people who are in the throes of inconsistency in their social life are driven to resolve that inconsistency”. One of Leon Festinger’s early studies of cognitive dissonance investigated a cause of dissonance, and how people try to decrease or eliminate that feeling. Important indirect relationships between self-control and treatment outcome may also involve the enlistment of parallel and subordinate processes.
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Although MI incorporates the principles of the trans theoretical model, it has been distinguished from both trans theoretical model and CBT21. Motivation enhancement therapy (MET) is a brief, program of two to four sessions, usually held before other treatment approaches, so as to enhance treatment response24. MET adopts several social cognitive as well as Rogerian principles in its approach and in keeping with the social cognitive theory, personal agency is emphasized.
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Don’t hesitate to reach out to Arrowwood Addiction Center today – it could be the first step towards breaking free from the chains of addiction and embracing a brighter future. Therapy is delivered in a supportive, encouraging environment where people get the opportunity to share ideas and stories. This collaboration leads to mutual understanding, paving the way for recovery from alcohol (and any other substance) addiction. Once individuals realize just how conflicting their beliefs are, they work hard to relieve the discomfort in an attempt to resolve Dissonance – this is titled “The Principle of Cognitive Consistency”. Camille brings a warm and personable approach to her work, fostering strong connections built on trust and empathy.
Trying to suddenly adjust your thoughts, behaviors, and beliefs can be tricky, but someone who knows the full story can help you stay on track. In treating anxiety and depression, this approach can be particularly effective. Often, these conditions are fueled by conflicting beliefs about oneself and the world. For instance, someone might believe they’re worthless while simultaneously holding onto the hope that they can improve their life.
Thomas has worked at EAS for over 12 years and has held every clinical role in the company. Thomas has been in the Santa Cruz area his whole life and is proud to serve his community in fighting addiction one client at a time. For the first week or so, she calls daily to provide updates during the detox process and then weekly during the entirety of the program. She thrives on providing families a warm and friendly connection to their loved ones treatment process which in turn helps not only the families, but our clients.
- For example, someone might experience the impression that they are incapable of sobriety.
- The focus of CBT is manifold and the focus is on targeting maintaining factors of addictive behaviours and preventing relapse.
- They are willing to increase their own delusional thinking to protect their current addiction.
Carrie counsels clients with abuse trauma, helps them rebuild their self-worth and assists them in obtaining healthy coping skills. With regard to addictive behaviours Cognitive Therapy emphasizes psychoeducation and relapse prevention. Therefore, many of the techniques discussed under relapse prevention that aim at modification of dysfunctional beliefs related to outcomes of substance use, coping or self-efficacy are relevant and overlapping. The Trans theoretical model (TTM), describes stages of behavioral change, processes of change and the decisional balance and self-efficacy which are believed to be intertwined to determine an individual’s behaviour11. Early learning theories and later social cognitive and cognitive theories have had a significant influence on the formulation CBT for addictive behaviours. Theoretical constructs such as self-efficacy, appraisal, outcome expectancies related to addictions arising out these models have impacted treatment models considerably.
Matching interventions to the stage of change at which an individual is, can maximize outcome. The therapist therefore planned to improve his motivation for seeking help and changing his perspective about his confidence (motivational interviewing). Each of the five stages that a person passes through are characterized as having specific behaviours and beliefs. Of course, the methods of coping with your distortions will depend on the type of negative patterns you’re struggling with.
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Yet, on the other, they find themselves inexplicably drawn back to the very substance or behavior they’re trying to escape. This mental tug-of-war is the essence of cognitive dissonance in addiction—a phenomenon that’s as fascinating as it is heartbreaking. Now that we understand the process, let’s explore how cognitive dissonance therapy can be applied to various mental health challenges. Cognitive dissonance can have profound psychological and physiological effects.
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Those with a clear justification ($20) for lying experienced no dissonance and, as one would expect, later reported that the task was really rather boring. These authors present cognitive models of addiction whose elements are not necessarily named the same, but include similar characteristics. The labels, implicit, metacognitive, and executive were selected for this review because they appear with greater frequency as PubMed keywords in the context of addiction than do alternative search terms of similar meaning. Addiction is a brain disease characterized by the compulsion to use psychoactive substances despite negative consequences. Leon Fester, psychologist and author of the book; A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957), proposed that people experience psychological unease when their beliefs are conflicting or when their actions and behaviours contradict each other.
These findings indicate that the adolescent brain, which is still developing, is susceptible to insult from drug use and abuse, and such insult can result in long-lasting changes in affect and cognition. Alcohol Use Disorder A person who feels defensive or unhappy might consider the role cognitive dissonance might play in these feelings. If they are part of a wider problem that is causing distress, people may benefit from speaking with a therapist.
At Granite Mountain Behavioral Healthcare, our team aims to help our clients with addiction and mental illness recover. This is done by learning how to change their thought patterns and remove their dissonance through various methods of therapies such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Research into the changes in cognition that accompany addiction and the neural substrates of learning and addiction is still in its infancy but has potential to reshape views on addiction.
The use of neurocognitive rehabilitation strategies in addiction, however, is an area in its relative infancy. Executive and other core cognitive dysfunction in addiction includes deficits that may hinder the learning and effective application of skills and strategies taught in standard addiction treatment. Further research is needed to determine if delivering adjunctive neurocognitive rehabilitation of a broader set of executive and cognitive domains can enhance standard addiction treatment effectiveness. Executive function represents the second major sub-division of the explicit system, and broadly includes mental operations necessary for the planning, execution, and monitoring of goal-directed behavior.