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CENT PAPER NUMBER 2(a) - WHAT IS COGNITIVE EMOTIVE NARRATIVE THERAPY?
Paper No.2 (a): WHAT IS 'CENT'? 1. Introduction "CENT sees humans as essentially story tellers, to ourselves and others, and storytellers who live in a world of narratives and scripts, which include reasonable and unreasonable elements, logical and illogical elements, and defensible and indefensible elements. Humans often tend to push away (or repress) unpleasant experiences, to fail to process them, and to then become the (unconscious) victims of those repressed, undigested experiences. CENT also sees adult relationships as being the acting out of childhood experiences with parents and siblings, because some part of those earlier relationships have not been properly digested and completed". Extract from CENT Counselling: How to apply Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy in counselling and self-help, By Dr Jim Byrne.*** Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy (CENT) is a system of counselling and psychotherapy which integrates a number of different systems which cross various divides. For example, we have integrated the ABC model of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) with the PAC model of Transactional Analysis (TA), and also with Freud's id-ego-superego model: (See CENT Paper No.9 for elaboration). We have integrated some of the insights of Zen Buddhist philosophy, with Frame Theory, to create the Six Windows Model of CENT counselling. This allows us to teach the ways in which a particular human perception is relative to the 'frame of reference' of the observer; and thus to allow our clients to 'reframe' their problems so they do not 'show up' as quite so distressing as previously thought. We also integrate, with all of the above, moral philosophy, Object Relations theory, Attachment theory, and several other cognitive, narrativeand psychodynamic therapies. (In the following video clip, I provide a brief introduction to CENT): Viewer Comments: 1. "This is absolutely excellent!!! I would like to learn (this system) or read a book about this model". - Taski, via YouTube. 28th December 2011 2. "This dude's amazing (and I) totally love his work". - PsychologyLover93 ~~~
This is a popular introduction to the theory and practice of Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy (CENT), which is a highly effective new philosophy of life, and psychological system of therapy. This book was designed to answer the most common questions asked by counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists, counselling and therapy students, counselling and therapy clients, and self-help enthusiasts, about the nature of CENT: how to learn it; and how to apply it in practice, to individual counselling, couple's therapy, and self management. The main aim is to demonstrate CENT counselling in practice; and in the process you will learn something about how to integrate and apply CBT/REBT, Transactional Analysis (TA), Attachment Theory, Object Relations and Zen philosophy and Moral philosophy. For further information on this book, please click here. ~~~ CENT is not
an eclectic system which has merely bolted elements of different counselling systems together. It is a truly
integrative system which began by revisiting the basic model of the human personality developed
by Sigmund Freud and asking:
The same process was conducted with the PAC model of Transactional Analysis and ideas from cognitive science.
The resulting model was then compared with the implications of the Object Relations School and later with Attachment theory.
Moral philosophy and Zen Buddhism were also interrogated in this process of model building. That work of model building is described in Papers No.1(a) and No.9. Before that system of integration of models was begun, I had studied thirteen different systems of counselling and therapy, including: Freud and Jung, Rogers and Perls, Behaviour Therapy theory and practice, Cognitive Therapy and REBT, Reality Therapy and Transactional Analysis, Existential Therapy and Logotherapy, Multimodal Therapy and Cognitive-Humanistic Therapy; and also committed myself to the proposition that all systems of counselling and therapy that are designed to be therapeutic are broadly equivalent in terms of outcomes achieved, as argued by Wampold (2001)[1], and Messer and Wampold (2000)[2]. CENT evolved in phases. 1968 to 1998 was a kind of incubation of some core ideas. 1999 to 2007 saw an intensification of thinking and learning about the core elements. And finally, over the past four year period - of developing and applying the emerging CENT model - a basic theory of human personality and psychological disturbance emerged. ~~~ The main aim of this book is to spread happiness. Not just any old hedonistic happiness, excitement, or thrill seeking; but rather pro-social, moral, sustainable happiness, in line with the insights of Positive psychology, Buddhist psychology, Stoic philosophy and various forms of Rational and Narrative therapy, and the two major systems of writing therapy (the scientific and the artistic). In this book you will find a twelve week program which is designed to help you to manage your life in such a way that you can reduce your unhappiness and increase your happiness. You will learn simple techniques that can produce almost immediate improvements that will astound you. Available here: Creating Joy: How to be much happier, right now! ~~~ 2. The basic theory of CENT In a broader sense than that above, CENT was developed by this author over many years of study and application, in private practice with more than 580 clients. Here are some of the key features of CENT, firstly in video form, and then in an expanded list: Firstly, it takes into account that we are bodies as well as minds, and so diet, exercise, sleep, relaxation/meditation, drugs and other physical inputs and stimuli are seen as important factors in determining the emotional state of the individual client. Secondly, it starts from the assumption that we are primarily social animals, and not solitary individuals. We are social to our very roots, especially from the moment of parturition, when we are handed into the arms of our mothers. Everything that happens from that point onwards - and also including the original birth trauma - is significant for the development of the so-called 'individual' (who is really an amalgam of significant other 'individuals' with whom we are related from birth onwards, and who we 'internalize' as 'models'). For this reason, CENT sees the relationship between counsellor and client as a key ingredient in the client's cure or healing process. The relationship has to be warm and nurturing, caring and considerate, kind and concerned. It is not okay to relate to the client as a 'thinking machine' and the counsellor as a dispenser of cold, clinical data. Thirdly, CENT theory represents the new born baby as containing two potentials: to develop pro-social and caring attitudes; and to develop anti-social and egotistical attitudes. Part of the process of socialization is to ensure that the new person mainly develops their 'good side' (or what the Native American Cherokee people called the 'good wolf') through the moral teachings of their parents, teachers and others; and that their 'bad wolf' is constrained and contained. (It cannot ever be totally or permanently eliminated. We each contain the capacity for significant levels of evil to the ends of our days!) But the happy functioning of social animals depends upon the extent to which we develop our pro-social, moral virtues, and resist our anti-social, immoral or amoral vices. Some clients are clearly operating mainly from 'good wolf' and some are significantly operating from 'bad wolf'. That latter client group needs coaching in moral philosophy; and encouragement to operate mainly from 'good wolf'. This split in our nature necessitates constant moral vigilance, which is explored in the following video clip, which shows the differences between CENT and REBT on the subject of morality:
This
principle is also in accord with the theories of Freud and Jung. Freud distinguished between the life/love urge (Eros)
and the death/destructrion urge (Thanatos), which he considered to be innate in all humans. CG Jung famously said that
the only real danger is man/woman. We are the great danger to ourselves and others. "We are the origin of
all coming evil". For this reason, Jung thought we had to study the psyche. In CENT we are more pratmatic.
We need to engage in moral philosophy, and to actively oppose the Bad Wolf in every social arena. (Of course, we do
not agree with Freud that all aggression is bad. Some aggression comes from the Good Wolf, and is aimed at survival
of the human and the social group. Take for example a woman who strikes a potential rapist over the head with a golf
club and accidentally kills him. That is an act by her Good Wolf, because she was using her innate aggression to protect
herself from immoral violation). ~~~ CENT counselling can involve one or two sessions to sort out a practical problem; or a more extensive series of sessions, to resolve deeper, more traumatic emotional experiences. To see an example of the latter, please see my recent paper on ‘The anatomy of a failed marriage: How to complete an undigested adult relationship failure, using writing therapy.*** ~~~ Fifth, we mainly operate from one of three so-called 'ego states', or 'ways of being' (as described in Transactional Analysis [TA]). These are: (P) Parent ego state, when we think, feel and behave just like some parent figure from our past experience; (A) Adult ego state, which is the logical, reasonably cool and rational, computing part of the brain-mind. And: (C) Child ego state, which is characterized by our thinking, feeling and behaving just like we once did as a young child. Sixth,
we seem to be story tellers in a world of stories. (Language is the sea in which we swim, unknowingly; as fish swim in water
without ever 'spotting' the water). And so our neurotic reactions tend to be outgrowths of old, illogical, unreasonable and
unhelpful narratives and stories, frames, scripts, schemas, beliefs and attitudes. Eighth, our clients may be distressed because of their illogical, unreasonable, unrealistic or insupportable beliefs and attitudes about themselves, other people and the world, and we try to get them to reframe those beliefs and attitudes, using the Six Windows model.*** Ninth, our clients may be distressed because they have failed to process
some earlier emotional experience, which is now stuck in the basement of their mind, causing neurotic symptoms to emerge in
the form of distorted thoughts, feelings, behaviours, or physical symptoms. In this kind of situation, the CENT therapist's
role is to help the client to dig up that part of their past, to process the unprocessed experience, which we call ‘completing
your experience' of what happened, or did not happen. Eleventh, from the object relations school, CENT takes the view that the first three phases of development of childhood can be disrupted, between birth and about the age of six years - or the first four sub-phases from birth to age three - resulting in specific forms of relationship dysfunction in later life. The solution to these problems tend to include a mixture of 'being with' the client in relationship; 'holding' the relationship in a suitable dialogue; helping them to make conscious and then process their un-experienced or resisted emotions; and providing analysis and models as cognitive-emotive ways forward. ~~~
The purpose of
this book is to teach the reader what stress is, and how to combat it. It is written in the form of a self-help manual, with
spaces for self-reflection exercises. However, it could also be used by counsellors, counselling students, and interested
others, as a means to learn, understand and present the CENT approach to Stress Management in counselling, coaching and therapy contexts. ~~~
CENT uses a number of different models to structure counselling and therapy sessions. There are at least four used for relatively cognitive (or cooler, more surface level) work; and several others used for deeper, more emotive (or historical, and non-conscious) work - (although all counselling and therapy work involves cognitive-emotive processing). The most central cognitive models used include the RCFP model and the EFR model, both of which were developed within CENT. Also, the A>B>C modelfrom REBT; the Six Windows Model***, also from CENT; and the APET model from the Human Givens tradition. (I have also produced three video clips on the subject of the various models of counselling that have been combined to produce Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy. Here I will present the first of those video clips): (The other two videos on the models of counselling and therapy used in CENT can be found on The 16 Counselling Videos page. ) (i) The RCFP model - which is adapted from Impact Therapy - is used to open counselling sessions. This is how it works: R = Rapport. Establish a warm, accepting and productive relationship with the client. C = Contract. Identify the Contract, or what the client and counsellor will work on, to the benefit of the client. F = Focus. Home in on that aspect of the contract issue which is likely to be most productive for the client. P = Process. Having identified the contract and the focus issue, the counsellor must now pick a model, or framework, which will facilitate effective and productive work with the client. The "process" stage can use any of the models that follow: (ii) The A>B>C model revisited: (A) Something - called the Activating Event - happens, which thwarts the client's goal-directed activities (or 'G').
This 'noxious Activating event' is called 'the A'. (Example: You are made redundant, and have problems getting a new job). (For further information on how to conduct CENT counselling and therapy sessions, please see the second ebook on CENT: Integrating Cognitive and Emotive Counselling and Psychotherapy.) ~~~ Here is Part 2 of my series on the counselling and therapy models used in CENT: ~~~ Since making my three part video series on the models used in CENT, the number of windows has increased from five to six. See the Six Windows model page, here. ~~~ (iii) The E>F>R model: CENT therapists use a variation on the A>B>C model, called the EFR model, as follows: E = Event or Experience. What happened, or what are you focusing upon? F = Framing. What kind of ‘frame' or ‘lens' are you looking through, in order to interpret this event, or to frame what are you are fixated upon? R = Response. What is the emotional and behavioural response generated by your body-mind? Returning to the ABC model: After the A & B & C steps outlined above, then we have the Debating/Disputing (D) step in REBT: (D) The aim of REBT therapy is to help the client to Debate
and Dispute (D) their 'irrational beliefs'***, or unhelpful narratives; and to arrive at point 'E': a New Effective Philosophy***, or a more empowering 'story' or 'narrative'. In CENT, Disputing is replaced by the frame challengingstep (FC): FC = Frame challenging. How many different ways can you think of to frame the E (or event or fixation that is troubling you)? If only one, then you really don't know how your mind works. Let's use the Six Window Model*** to show you that there are at least six, and possibly 66 different ways to look at what happened to you. Then we will consider which of those ways of looking at your situation is going to serve you best, and which you need to dump. Once you have changed the F that is distressing you, you will get a new (emotional and behavioural) outcome at point R in the E>F>R model. (Because it involves a good deal of detail in its own right, the Six Window Model is described in a separate blog***). ~~~ Here is Part 3 of the video series on the models used in CENT counselling: ~~~ The sixth window in the Six Windows Model asks this question: "If life was a school, what beneficial learning could you gain from this painful or frustrating adversity in your life?" ~~~ (iv) The APET model: Because of our automatic, tacit, non-conscious functioning, it may often be more realistic to use the APET model, from the Human Givens school of thought, rather than the A>B>C model; as follows: A = Activating event (as before): Something frustrating, challenging or noxious in some way, happens to the client. P = Pattern. Our 'organism as a whole' recognizes this activating event, because it can be assimilated to an existing 'schema' (or recognizable pattern) in long-term memory. E = Emotion. Our organism as a whole then 'outputs' a standard, habitual, emotional response to this stimulus (at 'A' above). T = Thoughts. Thinking follows on from consciously registering the fact that the emotional response has already occurred. Whereas the ABC model tends to focus attention on the B (or belief system of the client), and what the client can do to change their beliefs/attitudes about the A (or activating stimulus), the APET model often focuses attention on the possibilities of changing the A, or activating stimulus. This can be done by asking: what would be a solution to the problem posed by the Activating event (A)? What could you do to achieve that solution? The APET model also can draw attention to the need to change the client's inappropriate patterns of response to particular stimuli. This can be done by the therapist's telling relevant ‘educational stories', using metaphors, or using appropriate humorous images. This material can be used by the client (non-consciously) to modify their current patterns that are stimulated by a particular Activating stimulus (A). And in CENT, the next element is: NI = Narrative inquiry: What is going on 'in the basement' of your (the client's) mind? What is the story that produced this (R) response to this particular 'E' (or activating Event or Experience)? What is the narrative that is implied by this reaction? How helpful, logical or reasonable is this implicit narrative? What could the client change in the implicit narrative, or what more empowering narrative could they develop instead of the problematical one? ~~~ In addition to the four models described above (including the Six Windows model), we also use the following models: The WDEP model from Reality Therapy: The WDEP model has four elements. W = What do you want? D = What are you doing to get it? E = Let's hear your evaluation of how you are doing. And: P = Plan (or re-plan): What would a better plan look like? The Skilled Helper model: Originally called the Egan Model, after Gerard Egan who created it, this model asks three core questions. Where are you now? Where are you trying to get to? And: What strategies could you use to get there? Within each of those three stages, there are also sub-questions, regarding blindspots, leverage, viable agendas, choice and commitment, brainstorming strategies for action, choosing the best strategies, and: turning strategies into a plan. The TA Ego State model: This model comes from Transactional analysis, and teaches that the client is always operating from either Parent (P), Adult (A) or Child (C) ego states, and that the most effective way to proceed is to learn how to put their Adult ego state in the executive position in their personality. We use this model to identify the place the client is operating from. The Gestalt Chair-Work model: This model posits splits in the personality (like the P, A, C ego states mentioned in the previous model; and also like the sub-personalities of Psychosynthesis), and provides a basis for healing those splits. ~~~ POSTSCRIPT That is a brief flavour of CENT counselling. We
deal with your emotions. We look at the connection between your thinking and your emotions; your experience and your emotions;
your meanings and your emotions; your emotions and behaviours; and the stories within which you live your life. We encourage
you to change your self talk; your habitual behaviours; and to work on your bodily health and the story of your life. We try
to provide the best possible analysis of the potential reasons, in the basement of your mind, for your current dysfunctional
thoughts-feelings-behaviours.
Copyright (c) Jim Byrne, 2009, The Institute for CENT. To reference this paper in a publication, please use the following citation: Byrne, J. (2009) What is cognitive emotive narrative therapy (CENT)? CENT Paper No.2(a). Hebden Bridge: The Institute for CENT. Available online: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id75.html. ~~~ Dr Jim Byrne Email Jim Byrne at ABC Coaching. ~~~ PS: If you would like a more general introduction to the concept of 'counselling' as such, then please take a look at the 'What is Counselling?' page. ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ If
you like the content of this site, please share it with your favourite social networking group (e.g. at Facebook, Bebo, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Google+, etc). ~~~
[1]Wampold, B.E. (2001) The Great Psychotherapy Debate: Model, methods, and findings. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. [2]Messer, S. and Wampold, B. (2002) Let's face facts: Common factors are more potent than specific therapy ingredients. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. 9: 21-25.
In this manual, I want to do two things: (1) To present a basic understanding of the Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT/CBT) approach to dealing with anxiety’; and (2) To provide a set of exercises for you to do so that you can learn how to analyze your problems with anxiety; identify solutions; and implement those solutions so as to eliminate your anxiety. In that way, you can become your own “counsellor”, in the area of anxiety and fear, because you can learn to fix your own emotional and behavioural problems. For further information, please go to How to control your anxiety... ~~~
The Institute for CENT agreed to publish this somewhat fictionalized memoir of childhood in Ireland because of its psychologically curative potential. All humans live within stories, and stories are the medium through which we understand ourselves and each other. And some stories contribute greatly to our emotional development and maturity. For further information about this book, see this memorir of childhood in Ireland ~~~
The purpose of
this book is to teach the reader what stress is, and how to combat it. It is written in the form of a self-help manual, with
spaces for self-reflection exercises. However, it could also be used by counsellors, counselling students, and interested
others, as a means to learn, understand and present the CENT approach to Stress Management in counselling, coaching and therapy contexts.
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Creating Joy: How to be much happier, right now!
CENT e-book No.5: How to Control Your Anxiety:
A rational approach using REBT/CBT