APPLICATION OF COGNITIVE THEORY IN PHOBIA TREATMENT AND ITS RELATION WITH SIGMUND FREUD'S LITERATURE: CONNECTION BETWEEN CRIMINAL SCIENCE AND PSYCHIATRY.
Cognitive theory of delinquent and anti-social behavior focuses on human feelings and explains that all external activities resulted from internal mental processes.Certain social factors can affect or alter the internal mental processes, which can reinforce or discourage behavior. When cognitive theorists who study information processing try to explain antisocial behavior, they do so in terms of mental perception and how people use information to understand their environment. When people make decisions, they engage in a sequence of cognitive thought processes. First, they encode information so that it can be interpreted; next, they search for a proper response and decide on the most appropriate action; and finally, they act on their decision. According to this cognitive approach, people who use information properly, who are better conditioned to make reasoned judgments, and who can make quick and reasoned decisions are best able to avoid antisocial behavior choices. In contrast, crime-prone people use information incorrectly when they make decisions.
All three types of phobia (specific phobia, social phobia and agoraphobia) fall into a larger group of psychological issues called anxiety disorders, which are the most common type of psychiatric disorder. Cognitive restructuring, based on cognitive theory, is part of an effective treatment plan for anxiety disorder. During a cognitive restructuring session, the therapist will ask a person several questions, help him analyze his answers to increase understanding of his anxiety, and assists him to rewrite his maladaptive thoughts.
Psycho-dynamic psychology was originated by Viennese psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and has since remained a prominent segment of psychological theory. According to Freud, the mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water. Freud believed that there were unconscious forces that drive behavior. He developed three techniques are still used by psychoanalysts today, namely:
(1) Dream analysis (examining dreams for important information about the unconscious),
(2) Hypnosis (Creating a state of human consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion), and
(3) Free association (freely talking to the therapist about whatever comes up without censoring and redirecting feelings).The mechanism psychiatrists follow today for phobia treatment originated from the free association theory of Sigmund Freud.
References:
1. Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior (Ninth Edition) By Frank E. Hagan.
2. Criminal Psychology: A Beginner's Guide By Ray Bull.
3. Principles of Criminology By Sutherland and Cressey
4. Introduction to Psychoanalysis By Sigmund Freud.
5. The Interpretation of Dreams By Sigmund Freud.
6. Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective By Aaron Beck and Gary Emery
