General Cognitive Behavioural Process

General Cognitive Behavioural Process



Well, a psychologist has actually explained to me before that any human actions / behaviours are generally dictated by a cognitive mental process summarized such as follows, and it would apply as well to the ones suffering from any mental disorders, but nevertheless are still mentally and cognitively well-aware of their surroundings and other objects / factors around them. Next, I find that such reasonings really make great senses, and hence, I just feel like to share it with the intended readers :-


Perceptions (anything we see, we hear, we know, we taste, we touch etc from our surroundings / other people) => Feelings (the way we feel about our surroundings and other people based on anything we see, hear, know, taste, touch etc) => Thoughts (the types of views and opinions that we form in our minds based on the types of feelings we have for anything we perceive) => Actions (how we choose to react in response to those surroundings / other people based on the feelings and thoughts that arise in our minds).


In such a regard, the underlying problem faced by the ones with schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and other mental disorders are such that they would tend to treat their perceptions (as mentioned above) in a very much negatively different way, and that in turn results in them forming all those negative feelings, thoughts and then all those negative actions of which others get to label them as negative behavioural / personality changes.


For example, a person suffering from schizophrenia may, after 'observing' his surroundings, (Perceptions), just in turn, for certain reasons like past traumatic experiences, anxiety disorders, panic attacks etc, would tend to spontaneously and directly feel very much uncomfortable, anxious, scared and fearful for what they get to see, hear, know, touch etc (Feelings) , and in extreme cases, maybe they may get to hear 'voices' and feel very much threatened by their surroundings then have such false and unreal imaginations of which they subconsciously choose to firmly believe in that someone out there is 'really' / 'actually' threatening his life (Thoughts or in this case, purely false hallucinations), and finally just try his very best based on his own misguided judgements, to subconsciously become violently defensive and hostile against the others in order to save himself, from being killed etc (Actions).


Similarly, such an explanation to a certain extent would apply as well to the ones having such disorders like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Claustrophobia (a morbid fear of being closed in a confined space) etc whereby a given surrounding, which may appear normal to other people, would nevertheless and otherwise appear to be abnormally unacceptable to them possibly because of past traumatic experiences, anxiety disorders, panic attacks and other reasons. Next, the feelings and thoughts that such people would have based what they perceive for the given surrounding in turn would be largely uncontrollable, if not subconciously involuntary, while their subsequent responses/ reactions / actions based on their such negative feelings and thoughts, would in turn be very much the so-called reflex reactions which are substantially and in most cases, totally beyond their self-control.


In this regard, it would be very much helpful for the ones dealing with such persons to understand their basic underlying problems and difficulties and in turn treat them considerately and thoughtfully with care, respects and most importantly, compassion, whilst at the same time, also try to be friendly and amicable to them in such as a way that rather than feeling uncomfortable with a given surrounding and becoming agitated, these persons would on the other hand, feel more mind-easing, emotionally calm, placated, pacified, soothed, comfortable and relaxing with that given 'uneasy' / 'uncomfortable' / 'threatening' surroundings that they perceive. Subsequently, all these efforts will definitely be tremendously conducive to the improvements of the conditions of their disorders and possibly the final recovery in the end.


With all due respect, the antipsychotics and other neuroleptics just serve to temporarily block such negative nerve impulses about their such negative perceptions from getting sent to the brain of the ones having such disorders so as to artificially block all those negative feelings, thoughts, and then the actions. Hence, they are simply not a conclusive and permanent solution to such disorders.


Well, in such a context, the most direct way of treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the most effective, and maybe largely hypothetical way would be for such persons to totally change their perceptions about their surroundings, environments, the other people in a positive way and to start having positive and realistic thoughts and at the same time, to get rid of those hallucinations, fanciful ideas, little by little gradually and slowly out of their mind and replace them with anything normal, practical, realistic and positive. Theorectically, positive perceptions => positive feelings =>positive thoughts => positive actions.


In this sense, a great deal of interpersonal, interactive, communications and emotional supports from the ones genuinely willing to help them would be very much essential in getting this achieved, essentially in changing the ways they perceive, feel and think for anything they deal with so as to enable them to come to a decision on their own to have positive actions.


Nonetheless, above all these external constructive helps from the others, all the self-initiatives, self-controls and self-disciplines that are meant to be exercised, essentially on the parts of the ones suffering from such a disorder, particularly to 'mentally-train' themselves to think realistically, positively, optimistically and to cast out / expel all those weird thoughts, hallucinations, fanciful imaginations and preposterous urges and whims little by little out of their minds and get them replaced with the positive, practical and realistic ones, so as to slowly develop positive behavioural changes in themselves, would in turn actually be the decisive factor in determining whether their conditions will pracitcally improve or not, slowly and gradually in the end.



Tweet