Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T05:39:30.916Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Writing the ‘self’ into self-practice/self-reflection (SP/SR) in CBT: learning from autoethnography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2019

Craig Chigwedere Open the ORCID record for Craig Chigwedere [Opens in a new window]
Craig Chigwedere*
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland
*
Corresponding author. Email: cchigwedere@stpatsmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Self-practice/self-reflection (SP/SR) allows cognitive behavioural therapists (CBT) to self-experience the techniques they use clinically. However, it is difficult to find published first-hand accounts of CBT therapists’ SP/SR experiences. This may be because CBT research is primarily positivist and objective, while SP/SR is intrinsically subjective. Borrowing from the principles of autoethnography may offer a subjectivist qualitative methodology, allowing CBT therapists to write up their SP/SR experiences as rich, first-hand research material, potentially impacting theory and practice. This novel personal case study of SP/SR borrows from autoethnography, adapting it to analyse the self-practice of the CBT model of worry, in order to understand my own experience of worry as well as the model itself.

Key learning aims

  1. (1) To develop an approach to the research that is applicable to first-hand SP/SR material.

  2. (2) To demonstrate how therapists can continue SP/SR practice post-CBT training.

  3. (3) To illustrate how, with the aid of autoethnographic principles, SP/SR practice can influence not only the practitioner’s personal and therapist-self, but also theory development.

Keywords

cognitive behavioural psychotherapy (CBT)generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)self-practice/self-reflectionworry
Type
Original Research
Information
the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist , Volume 12 , 2019 , e38
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further reading

Anderson, L. (2006). Analytic autoethnography. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35, 373–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett-Levy, J. (2006). Therapist skills: a cognitive model of their acquisition and refinement. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 34, 1–22. doi.org/10.1017/S1352465805002420 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dugas, M. J., & Robichaud, M. (2007). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: From Science to Practice. New York/London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Putri, A. P. S., Poerwandari, E. K., & Rusli, E. (2018). Social anxiety and internet addiction: CBT intervention module development based on self-reflection. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 135, 397–409.Google Scholar

References

Adams, T. E., & Manning, J. (2015). Autoethnography and family research. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 7, 350–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, L. (2006). Analytic autoethnography. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35, 373–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. New York, USA: The New American Library.Google Scholar
Bennett-Levy, J. (2006). Therapist skills: a cognitive model of their acquisition and refinement. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 34, 1–22. doi:org/10.1017/S1352465805002420 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett-Levy, J., Turner, F., Beaty, T., Smith, M., Paterson, B., & Farmer, S. (2001). The value of self-practice of cognitive therapy techniques and self-reflection in the training of cognitive behavioural therapists. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 29, 203–220. doi:org/10.1017/S1352465801002077 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bochner, A., & Ellis, C. (1996). Introduction. Talking over ethnography. In Ellis, C. and Bochner, A. (eds), Composing Ethnography. Alternative Forms of Qualitative Writing. Walnut Creek, CA, USA: AltaMira Press.Google Scholar
Borkovec, T., & Inz, J. (1990). The nature of worry in generalised anxiety disorder: the predominance of thought activity. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28, 153–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruner, J. (1993). The autobiographical process. In Folkenflik, R. (ed), The Culture of Autobiography: Constructions of Self-Representation (pp. 38–56). Stanford, CA, USA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Chigwedere, C., Thwaites, R., Fitzmaurice, B., & Donohoe, G. (2018). SP/SR as an alternative to personal therapy in cognitive behavioural therapy: a qualitative analysis. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 26, 74–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deenshire, S. (2013). Autoethnography. Sociopedia.isa. doi: 10.1177/205684601351 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denejkina, A. (2017). Exo-autoethnography: an introduction. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 18, article 13.Google Scholar
Denzin, N. (1989). Interpretic Biography. Newbury Park, CA, USA: Sage Publications, Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dugas, M. J., Gagnon, F., Ladouceur, R., & Freeston, M. H. (1998). Generalized anxiety disorder: a preliminary test of a conceptual model. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 215–226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dugas, M. J., & Robichaud, M. (2007). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: From Science to Practice. New York/London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: an overview. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12, article 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-12.1.1589 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. P. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: researcher as subject. In Denzin, N. K. and Lincoln, Y. S. (eds), Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd edn, pp. 733–769). Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage.Google Scholar
Freeman, M. (2004). Data are everywhere: narrative criticism in the literature of experience. In Daiute, C. and Lightfoot, C. (eds), Narrative Analysis: Studying the Development of Individuals in Society (pp. 63–81). Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage.Google Scholar
Haynes, K. (2017). Autoethnography in accounting research. In Hoque, Z., Parker, L. D., Covaleski, M. A. and Haynes, K. (eds), Routledge Companion to Qualitative Accounting Research Methods (pp. 215–230). London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Laireiter, A.-R., & Willutzki, U. (2003). Self-reflection and self-practice in training of cognitive behaviour therapy: an overview. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 10, 19–30. doi:10.1002/cpp.348 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mennin, D. S., Turk, C. L., Heimberg, R. G., & Carmin, C. N. (2004). Focusing on the regulation of emotion: a new direction for conceptualizing and treating generalized anxiety disorder. In Reinecke, M. A. and Clark, D. A. (eds), Cognitive Therapy over the Lifespan: Evidence and Practice (pp. 60–89). New York, USA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Putri, A. P. S., Poerwandari, E. K., & Rusli, E. (2018). Social anxiety and internet addiction: CBT intervention module development based on self-reflection. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 135, 397–409.Google Scholar
Richardson, A., & Bowden, J. (1983). A New Dictionary of Christian Theology. London, UK: SCM.Google Scholar
Rorty, R. (1979). Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Short, N. P., Turner, L., & Grant, A. (2011). Contemporary British Autoethnography. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.Google Scholar
Wells, A. (1995). Metacognition and worry: a cognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 23, 301–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide. New York, USA: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.