Cognitive Distortions and Its Therapy for Alcohol Addiction

Aaron T. Beck, an assistant professor in psychiatry, at the University of Pennsylvania identified distorted, negative cognition (primarily thoughts and beliefs) as a primary feature of depression and developed a short-term treatment. In the early 1960s he termed it as “cognitive therapy.” Cognitive distortions were defined by BECK in 1967. He explains, it as a result of processing information in ways that predictably resulted in identifiable errors in thinking. Cognitive distortions are negative or irrational patterns of thinking. These are unhealthy activities of mind that include negative interpretations regarding self and external world. Though various theories point to the origins of negative thinking and called them cognitive distortions, this article & findings are primarily based on descriptions given by Beck. WHO (1969) has defined alcoholics as “excessive drinkers whose dependence on alcohol has attained such a degree that they show noticeable mental disturbance or an interference with their mental and body health”. WHO in 2005, defines addiction as the repeated use of a psychoactive substances to the extent that the user is periodically or chronically intoxicated, shows a compulsion to take the preferred substance, has great difficulty in modifying substance use and exhibits determination to obtain psycho active substances by almost any means.