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Cognitive Approach to the Treatment of Offenders

NCJ Number
105886
Journal
British Journal of Social Work Volume: 15 Issue: 6 Dated: (December 1985) Pages: 619-633
Author(s)
B-Z Cohen
Date Published
1985
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the principles and techniques of cognitive therapy in the treatment of adult offenders.
Abstract
Major tenets of this approach are that individuals can master their fate; cognitive, emotive, and behavioral patterns are interrelated; cognitive processes mediate between the internal self and the external world; and altering cognitions that support behaviors can significantly change the behavioral repetoire. Because deviant and antisocial behaviors are associated with a variety of irrational cognitions and deficient problemsolving skills, cognitive therapy offers promise for work with offenders. Cognitive restructuring aims at modifying the client's irrational cognitions underlying maladaptive behavior patterns. Problemsolving techniques focus on the mediating cognitive processes that enable the client to deal rationally and effectively with problems in daily life. These techniques include specifying problems and hypotheses, generating options, means-ends thinking, and evaluating consequences. Cognitive stimulation involves eliciting cognitive responses that are new to a client's pattern of thinking. 39 references.

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