Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Origin of cognitive behavior therapy
* Came out of the behavioural psychology tradition
* Leading proponents were Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis
* 1960s were the starting point and began with the treatment of unipolar depression
Definition of CBT
* Focused form of psychotherapy based on a model suggesting that psychiatric/psychological disorders involve dysfunctional thinking
* The way an individual feels and behaves in influenced by the way s/he structures his experiences
* Modifying dysfunctional thinking provides improvements in symptoms and modifying dysfunctional beliefs that underlie dysfunctional thinking leads to more durable improvement
* Therapy is driven by a cognitive conceptualization and uses a variety of strategies
People associated with cognitive behavior therapy
* Albert Ellis, Ph.D – Grandfather of Cognitive Behavior Therapy
* Aaron Beck, MD,
- attempted to validate Freud’s theory of depression
* Founder of Beck Institute (A research and training center directed by one of his four children)
* Developed the Cognitive therapy skills, established their own cognitive behavior centers
Albert ellis’s rational emotive behavior therapy
* A form of cognitive-behavioral therapy in which somebody is encouraged to examine and change irrational thought patterns (irrational thinking) and beliefs in order to reduce dysfunctional behavior.
* Stresses thinking, judging, deciding, analyzing, and doing
* Assumes that cognitions, emotions, and behaviors interact and have a reciprocal cause-and-effect relationship
* Is highly didactic, very directive, and concerned as much with thinking as with feeling
* Teaches that our emotions stem mainly from our beliefs, evaluations, interpretations, and reactions to life situations
* REBT differs from other therapeutic approaches in that it does not place much value on free association, working with dreams, focusing on the...