January 6, 2006
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Jeff Garrett Ph.D.
Background
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a general classification of psychotherapy
Several approaches to CBT fall within this classification, including CT, REBT, CBM
Key Figures
Aaron Beck
Albert Ellis
Donald Meichenbaum
The Future of Counseling
“ … psychotherapy will become more directive, psycho-educational, present-centered,
problem-focused, and briefer in the next decade … integrative, systemic and cognitive
persuasions will thrive …” Norcross, et al. (1992).
Corsini (2004) projected the following trends for the future of counseling
•Practice guidelines and manual based treatments will be used more frequently
•Behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches will be favored because effectiveness
can be measured
•Increased emphasis on empirically supported treatments
•Guidelines will be used to decide how and whom third party payers reimburse
•Technology will become a primary vehicle for health care
Theoretical Propositions
•People have the potential to be rational, self preserving, creative, and functional OR to
be irrational, self-destructive, short-range hedonists
•Culture and family can perpetuate dysfunctional thinking
•Humans perceive, think, feel and behave simultaneously
•CBT proposes that directive therapies using cognitive and behavioral interventions
which require tasks and discipline are likely to be effective in a shorter time period with
less sessions required
Theoretical Propositions
•A warm therapeutic relationship may be desirable but it is not necessary or sufficient
condition for change
•CBT Therapists use a variety of techniques with a goal of reducing symptoms and, more
importantly, facilitating cognitive and behavioral changes that endure
•The causes of an individual’s problems are not events that have happened but how the
individual perceives or interprets them
•There is an element between stimulus and response; it is thought
S thoughts