A 45-year-old patient presents with recurrent major depression. Her clinician notes a family history of mood disorders, recent job loss, chronic insomnia, ruminative thinking patterns, and limited social support. The treatment plan integrates an SSRI, cognitive-behavioral therapy, sleep hygiene coaching, and a peer support group.
Within CBT, the patient's ruminative thinking would most directly be addressed through:
- A
Aversive conditioning paired with negative thoughts
- Bcheck_circle
Identifying and restructuring maladaptive automatic thoughts
- C
Free association to surface unconscious wishes
- D
Unconditional positive regard from the therapist
Explanation
CBT targets automatic thoughts and core beliefs through cognitive restructuring. Free association is psychoanalytic, unconditional positive regard is humanistic (Rogers), and aversive conditioning is a behavior-therapy technique not appropriate for rumination.