‘CBT’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life, Page 7

Despite frequent social sanctions, aggressive personalities often persist in their aggressive defiance of society’s rules and limits.

You haven’t seen your family for weeks. Your job performance is literally a matter of life and death. You’re cooped up in a small living space with work colleagues, and you can’t even step outside for a quick breath of fresh air. You’re an astronaut in space, and you’re depressed. Who can you turn to? The answer — a new computerised therapy system being developed for NASA — might turn out to be pretty useful right here on Earth, too.

Anxiety plays a central role in what we have commonly called neurosis. Anxiety plays a minimal role, however, in the problems of the disordered character.

One of the ways that folks become embroiled in abusive or exploitive relationships is by falling prey to concerns about the way their character-disordered partner is feeling. They almost never consider that the brandishing of anger might be a tactic that character-disturbed individuals use to manipulate and control others, as opposed to a genuine feeling.

The Mental Health Foundation has welcomed the UK Department of Health’s announcement that it will make computer-based cognitive behavioural therapy available to patients with common mental health problems such as anxiety or mild to moderate depression.