Freedom as theme in psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy

Abstract

BackgroundThe problems that a client presents with to therapy may be associated with his possibility of free choice.MethodReview of psychotherapeutic and cognitive behavioral literature.ResultsFrom a psychological perspective, freedom may be either inner or outer, depending on the nature of obstacles and barriers that limit freedom. Therapy may be understood as a process through which the client is guided to actively increase his freedom. This refers to freedom from destructive habits, self-limiting attitudes, compulsive actions, symptoms etc. When creating the relationship, neither the client nor the therapist is entirely free as they bring past conscious and unconscious experiences into it. From the point of view of CBT, freedom is always relative. The idea of absolute freedom results from cognitive distortions – black and white thinking. CBT does not consider overall freedom but relatively free decision-making in particular situations that the client is in. The therapist helps the client to identify his errors in thinking and to learn a more realistic way to formulate his experiences and to use the new attitude to decide more freely. The change in attitude is realized through rehearsing freer behavior and experiments with it in one's life.ConclusionFreedom may be either inner or outer, depending on the nature of obstacles and barriers that limit freedom. Therapy may be understood as a process through which the client is guided to actively increase his freedom.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.