Zach's Case: The Cognitive Model

Zach’s Case Zach is a 21-year-old college student who currently moved back in with his parents after spending the first two years living away from home. Zach has always been known as an easygoing person but as of recently he has had problems with people thinking that they’re “out to get him”. This all started after him and girlfriend, Julie, broke up when she revealed that she has fallen in love with somebody else. Zach then stopped socializing with others, working out, cleaning around the house, and even dropped his summer class as a result. His roommates eventually ended up calling his parents to inform them of Zach’s situation and they came immediately to bring him home. After an appointment with his doctor, it is revealed that Zach is …show more content…
One way is by the cognitive model. Cognitive theorists believe abnormal functioning is resulted by the assumptions and attitudes people develop that are not only disturbing, but also inaccurate. Overgeneralization is a term from the cognitive model that’s the drawing of broad, negative, and self-defeating conclusions on the basis of a single insignificant event. This term applies to Zach’s case because after his breakup with Julie, he began to think less of himself and came to the conclusion that he’s a loser that will be alone for the rest of his life. Cognitive theorist, Aaron Beck, created cognitive therapy which is used to help clients recognize the negative thoughts, one sided interpretations, and errors in logic that has dominated their thinking. Guiding people, like Zach, to new interpretations could create a fresh approach in how to assess their …show more content…
The theory is that personality development and behavior disorders are related to and determined by the relationships with other people. Interpersonal approaches emphasize the identification and understanding of self-defeating patterns in relationships and to create new, healthy ones to take its place. For Zach, his breakup destroyed his self-worth and now he thinks even less of himself. He is even doubtful that he will ever find somebody else again. It is a similar situation to what happened to Zach’s mother when she found out about her husband’s secret child with another woman. Eventually, his mother came back around and was able to reconcile with Zach’s father after some doctor appointments. An interpersonal therapist could plant the idea to Zach that his experience with Julie was just a learning curve and that something better will come eventually. Group therapy with others that have also been in the same situation could be ideal to helping Zach coupe with the situation. The goal of interpersonal therapy is to enable people with depression to make their own psychological adjustments to treat their depressive