1 - (SYM 94) Enhancing Cognitive-behavioral Practice with the Common Sense Model of Self-regulation: A Theoretical Overview and Case Application

Cognitive-behavioral protocols rarely provide guidance for optimal strategies to communicate mental health. As a result, clinicians may inadvertently frame psychopathology in ways that instill or perpetuate harmful or maladaptive beliefs within patients. It is possible this gap continues to exist because clinical psychology lacks frameworks that outline intuitive dimensions to help breakdown important components of psychopathology. In this talk, the presenter will review the potential utility of the common-sense model (CSM) of self-regulation from social psychology. According to the CSM, individuals develop illness representations that guide coping procedures to manage illness threat. Several domains of illness representations exist: Identity (how illness label relates to individual), Causes (beliefs of what caused the illness), Timeline (beliefs about duration of illness), Consequences (anticipated effects due to illness), and Controllability (perceived control over illness). These domains are prevalent in how psychologists conceptualize mental health conditions and communicate information with patients; further, the domains are associated with key clinical outcomes—symptom severity, coping behaviors, and stigma—across a variety of physical and mental health disorders. Yet, the CSM remains an underutilized framework in cognitive-behavioral practice, despite the CSM’s intuitiveness and potential to enhance case conceptualization and mental health communication. This talk will review the CSM—its background, components, and empirical support—and overview a series of case examples across different disorders. The cases include: (1) a female with depression whose illness beliefs affected their treatment choices; (2) a male with borderline personality disorder whose illness beliefs fostered self-stigma; and (3) a Veteran with poly-substance use disorder whose illness beliefs stymied treatment progress. Altogether, the talk will highlight how augmenting cognitive-behavioral practice with the CSM can improve mental health communication, which can ultimately enhance well-being, meaning-making, and reduce distress.