LEARNING REVIEW

Learning Review



Learning Review

Introduction

The present assignment introduces a new treatment modality for people with comorbid insomnia and depression that combines cardiovascular exercise and elements of cognitive behavioural treatment: Exercise Based Cognitive Therapy (EBCT). While simultaneously performing moderate to high intensity cardiovascular exercise, participants are instructed to focus on current problems, goals and the negative automatic thoughts that may be associated with these problems. The principal of EBCT is the combination of focused problem solving with physical activity, which is expected to result in improved mood as an immediate outcome. In the long term, participants in this intervention will develop the ability to utilize physical exercise as a way to cope with negative emotional states. This intervention will be targeted toward individuals in a common workplace who self identify as needing assistance with stress management, and who potentially may be suffering from depressed mood and insomnia symptoms. The initiation of a moderate to high intensity cardiovascular exercise regimen combined with elements of cognitive behavioural therapy is intended to decrease insomnia and depressive symptoms, and additionally improve self-efficacy and self-esteem. The EBCT treatment may potentially be effective with a variety of emotional and physical disorders, but it may be particularly helpful with stressed individuals because it combines emotional work with physical activity- both treatment modalities that are individually utilized in stress management, depression, and insomnia treatment. The specific aims of the study were the development of the EBCT protocol, and demonstration that the protocol could be performed as designed, resulting in reduced psychological stress, improved mood and insomnia symptoms. Therefore, all the issues related to C.B.T levels will be discussed in detail.

First Part of the Learning Review

Researchers define anxiety as a state of helplessness that results from a perceived inability to predict or control personally salient situations that are perceived as negative. Anxiety becomes a disorder when normal developmental fears intensify and persist rather than subside over time, usually during childhood. The researcher known as Barlow in 2002 outlined three traits that are particularly characteristic of anxiety in human beings. Physiological arousal (e.g., quickening heartbeat, flushed skin, erratic breathing) is a feature of anxiety that prepares individuals for potentially threatening events for which they feel they have no control. Hyper vigilance and excessive sensitivity to threatening cues keep anxious individuals locked in apprehension, leading them to constantly scan for feared stimuli. Anxiety is future-oriented, or anticipatory, meaning that anxious individuals tend to focus on upcoming events, worrying about potentially negative or harmful outcomes that may result from ambiguous or otherwise unthreatening events. Also, having a sense of uncontrollability over events is a key feature of anxiety (Andrews, 1990, 29).

Under normal conditions, anxiety is an adaptive and healthy response that serves to protect individuals from threatening or potentially harmful situations. The researcher known as Gray in 1985 believed anxiety to be a state that is created when a series of neural connections, the Behavioural Inhibition System, are activated. This hyper aroused state prepares a person's mind and body to protect ...