1. Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy

2. Key concepts Cognitive Model of Development Automatic Thoughts
Early childhood experiences lead to basic beliefs about oneself and one’s world
Automatic Thoughts
Automatic thought is a significant role in perceived distress.
Cognitive Schemas
How individuals think about their world
Schemas develop early in life from personal experience and interaction with others.

3. Key concepts—cognitive Distortions
All or nothing thinking
Unless I get A, I have failed.
Negative prediction
Form conclusions without any supporting evidence
A person has done well on exams, but predicts that he/she will fail an exam
Selective abstraction
Form conclusions based on just one event

4. Key concepts—cognitive Distortions
Mind reading
We think that we know what another person thinks of us
Catastrophizing
Exaggerate our concerns
Overgeneralization
Based on one single event and applying it to future events
Because I did poorly on my first math exam, I can’t do math.

5. Key concepts—cognitive Distortions
Magnification and minimization
Magnify imperfections or minimize good points
Personalization
Relate external events to themselves even when there is no basis for the connection.
Labeling and mislabeling
A negative view of oneself is based on imperfections or mistakes made in the past

6. The goals of Therapy
Observe automatic thoughts, identify cognitive distortions, and ask for evidences for reality testing the cognitive distortions
Use automatic thoughts to reach the core schema and introduce the idea of schema restructuring
Focus on specific goals

7. The Therapeutic Relationship
Therapeutic relationship is necessary, but not sufficient for therapeutic effect
Educate clients about how thoughts influence their emotions and behaviors
Teach client how to be their own therapist
Use homework to test their beliefs in daily-life situations

8. Therapeutic Techniques
The three-question techniques
What is the evidence for the belief?
How else can you interpret the situation?
If it is true, what are the implications?
Specifying automatic thoughts
Situation
Automatic
Thoughts
Emotions
Alternative
Response
Outcome

9. Therapeutic Techniques
Understanding idiosyncratic meaning
What does it mean to be a loser?
What-if technique (good for overreact clients)
If…..what would happen?
Listing advantages and disadvantages
Challenging absolutes (everyone, always, never….)
Everyone at work is smarter than me.

10. Therapeutic Techniques
Reattribution
attribute responsibility to the situations and not persons
Cognitive Rehearsal
Use of imagination in dealing with un-coming events
Challenging all or nothing thinking
Scaling: from a dichotomy to a continuum
Labeling of distortion
Labeling distortion to increase awareness

11. Cognitive Triad: Pattern that triggers depression
Clients hold negative view of themselves and blames themselves
What is the evidence for the belief?
Client has a tendency to interpret experiences in a negative manner
How else can you interpret the situation?
Client has a gloomy projections about the future
If it is true, what are the implications?

12. Research on cognitive therapy (CT)
More research on depression, followed by generalized anxiety (GA), OCD, and other psychological disorder.
Meta-analyses indicate that CT for dealing with depression and GA is superior to wait list or control groups
CT works better for those who are less depressed than for those who are more depressed
CT works better than behavior therapy for GA

13. From a multicultural perspective ---Contributions
Diverse populations appreciate the emphasis on cognition and actions
Some studies on CBT approach with minority groups

14. From a multicultural perspective --limitations
Exploring core beliefs is important in CBT needs to be sensitive to cultural background and context
Value “working hard”feel ashamed for not living up to the expectations
divorcebring shame to her family

15. Summary and Evaluation
contributions:
research support that CT is a empirically validated treatment
Limitations
denying the past
being too technique-oriented
failing to use the therapeutic relationship
working only to reduce symptoms
failing to explore the underlying causes of difficulties
ignoring unconscious factors and emotions