Non Cognitive Psychotherapy Introduction

We live in a world where evidence-based treatments in medicine and psychotherapy are de rigueur. These treatments are required by governmental authorities interacting with health professionals. However, we know that in counselling at least that all therapies work and that they all work about as well as each other (e.g. Wampold et al., 1997)!

So despite the fact that much is made of the need to use 'evidence-based therapies', the evidence shows that the specific technical differences among therapies may not curative by themselves. This finding points to the importance of common factors present in all therapies being therapeutically significant.

Now I don't think this finding means that it doesn't matter what therapists do. And one thing is certain: counsellors will not help clients if they don't have some belief that the methods they are using have some efficacy. Nor will counsellors be able to convince clients that what they are doing is meaningful and helpful.

I am presently re-reading Non Cognitive Psychotherapy: Advancing Mood Management* by L. Russell Hoover (2001) mainly because the title intrigues me; it is uncommon to find a psychotherapy these days that advertises itself as 'non-cognitive'.

This author attacks standard cognitive therapy (CT) which assumes as its guiding, first principle that thoughts create moods and emotions. (I should say that at this juncture that I have little sympathy with CT and have expressed my views elsewhere on this blog.)

CT says (to put it simply) that when an adverse situation occurs it activates certain thoughts/beliefs [COGNITIONS] and these cause emotions of sadness, anger or fear which form angry, sad, fearful or depressive moods. Hence, CT tries to get clients to modify or change their cognitions so that the pain of the reaction is lessened.

In the video below, you will see the famous Albert Ellis in action with a famous client known as 'Gloria'. Ellis was one of the pioneers of cognitive therapy. He originally called his therapy rational therapy (RT) (but finally titled it rational-emotive-behavior therapy or REBT). This video should give you an idea of Ellis' form of cognitive therapy though Aaron Beck's form of CT is different in manner from RT or REBT.

* Unfortunately, I find Russell Hoover's writing style to be verbose and overladen with adjectives that add nothing to clarity and make reading his book extremely difficult. It's a great pity because as I will try to show he has something important to share about counselling.