... way they perceive themselves and the way the feel they should be. This is a reductionist approach because it reduces a patient to their cognitions. In terms of explaining the cause of mental illness, the cognitive approach looks at the past, particularly at early childhood experiences, and explores how these experiences have shaped a person and a persons thought processes. In the therapies offered within this approach, the therapist must remain objective and rational in order to help the patient to 'realign' their faulty thinking. This means that the therapy is client centred, with the therapist remaining distant from the client. Clients are seen as responsible for improvements in their behaviour, and the therapist is there simply to guide and facilitate these changes, and to provide a suitable environment for these changes to be made in occur, the therapy is therefore empowering for the client because the power in the ...

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