SELF-REPRESENTATIONS AND THE NATURE OF COGNITIVE CHANGE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

This article presents a perspective and a program of research concerni ng cognitive aspects of emotional disorders as they relate to vulnerab ility and change processes in psychotherapy. The perspective focuses o n self-representation (knowledge or beliefs about the self that the in dividual possesses as elements in memory) and on self-evaluation as a continuous, largely unintentional process that can be associated with vulnerability to emotional distress. I begin by commenting on the diff iculties inherent in exploring cognitive processes. Next, I discuss on e type of self-representation, self-guides, likely to play a role in e motional disorders and in therapy. I describe an experimental method f or studying self-representations in emotional distress involving retri eval of childhood memories that is useful in exploring the origins and affective significance of self-representations. Finally, I report ong oing research examining the impact of psychotherapy on self-guides and emotional vulnerability and discuss the implications of our prelimina ry findings for the study and practice of psychotherapy.