Question

One page APA paper

Please answer the following questions

Does AA work because it's a form of CBT? Most people think of AA as a spiritual process with its main emphasis....

Answer 1

• Most people think of AA as a spiritual process with its main emphasis on "giving it all up to God or a higher power." Implicit in this idea is a relinquishment of personal responsibility, free will, and self-determination.
• The truth is, however, that AA probably works because it shares many things with CBT such as thinking differently, acting differently, and actually taking personal responsibility for one's decisions.
• Despite its spiritual underpinnings and focus on working the 12 Steps, it is a very behaviorally oriented process. For example, one of the core recommendations that AA makes is to change people, places, and things. In other words, to change one's routines, repertoires, and actions.
  
• Since it is a central tenet of CBT that thought and action can (and do) influence emotions and even brain chemistry, it is no surprise that changing what we think and how we act can have a powerful impact on how we feel, even to the extent of loosening the grip of powerful addictions.
• Even the surrendering to a higher power aspect of AA is firmly rooted in a behavioral soil in that AA members frequently say "pray like everything depends on God, but act like everything depends on you," and "fake it ‘til you make it."
• Both of these bits of advice closely mirror the cornerstone of CBT, namely that how you act so shall you think and feel. For example, people who conquer fears, phobias, and even obsessive compulsive anxiety, do so by refusing to act afraid despite their fearful feelings and anxious thoughts.
• Over time, this leads to genuine shifts in thinking and feeling so that they come into alignment with the non-fearful behavior. Hence, people fake it (not being anxious or phobic) until they make it (getting over their fears).
• AA’s First Step speaks to a main principle of CBT, which is a focus on the here and now. In both methods, it’s essential to first identify behavior patterns you want to change. This focus on recent displays of chaos and its consequences can serve as a motivator for curbing the behavior.
• CBT generally is a short-term therapy, focusing on specific life issues. While CBT clients do not, in turn, become therapists by virtue of their experience, many continue to have therapeutic maintenance sessions to continue addressing target behaviors.
• As with the 12 Steps, the hope is that, after completing CBT, one will possess the tools to cope with any related situations and address similar target behaviors that may arise in the future.
• In addition, the AA group process - including self-disclosure, mutual support, and observational learning - parallels many of the features found in cognitive behavioral therapy groups.