Lesson 11: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Beck’s Cognitive Therapy
Proponent in Focus: Aaron Beck
The Life of Aaron Beck from Corey (2017)
AARON TEMKIN BECK (b. 1921) was born in
Providence, Rhode Island. His childhood, although happy,
was interrupted by a life-threatening illness when he was
8 years old. As a consequence, he experienced blood
injury fears, fear of suffocation, and anxiety about his
health. Beck used his personal problems as a basis for
understanding others and for developing his cognitive
theory.
A graduate of Brown University and Yale School of
Medicine, Beck initially was trained as a neurologist, but
he switched to psychiatry during his residency. Beck
attempted to validate Freud’s theory of depression, but the results of his research did not
support Freud’s motivational model and the explanation of depression as “anger turned
inward.” Beck set out to develop a model for depression that fit with his empirical findings,
and for many years Beck endured isolation from and rejection by most of his colleagues
in the psychiatric community. Through his research, Beck developed a cognitive theory of
depression, which represented a new and comprehensive conceptualization.
He found the cognitions of depressed individuals were characterized by errors in
interpretation that he called “cognitive distortions.” For Beck, negative thoughts reflect
underlying dysfunctional beliefs and assumptions. When these beliefs are triggered by
situational events, a depressive pattern is put in motion.
Beck believes clients can assume an active role in modifying their dysfunctional
thinking and thereby gain relief from a range of psychiatric conditions. His continuous
research in the areas of psychopathology and the utility of cognitive therapy eventually
earned him a place of prominence in the scientific community in the United States. Beck
is the founder of cognitive therapy (CT), one of the most influential and empirically
validated approaches to psychotherapy. He has won nearly every national and
international prize for his scientific contributions to psychotherapy and suicide research
and was even short-listed for the Nobel Prize in medicine.
Beck joined the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pennsylvania in
1954, where he currently holds the position of University Professor (Emeritus) of
Psychiatry. Beck has successfully applied cognitive therapy to depression, generalized
anxiety and panic disorders, suicide, alcoholism and drug abuse, eating disorders, marital
and relationship problems, psychotic disorders, and personality disorders. He has
developed assessment scales for depression, suicide risk, anxiety, self-concept, and
personality. He is the founder of the Beck Institute, which is a research and training center
directed by one of his four children, Dr. Judith Beck. He has nine grandchildren and five
great-grandchildren and has been married for more than 60 years. To his credit, Aaron
Beck has focused on developing the cognitive therapy skills of tens of thousands of
clinicians throughout the world. In turn, many of them have established their own cognitive
therapy centers.
Beck has a vision for the cognitive therapy community that is global, inclusive,
collaborative, empowering, and benevolent. He continues to remain active in writing and
research and has published 24 books and more than 600 articles and book chapters.
Cognitive Developmental Model
• Early childhood experiences lead to basic beliefs about oneself and one’s world.
• Through experiences, a person develops a cognitive schema – thoughts about the world,
important beliefs and assumptions about people, events and the environment.
• As individuals progress in their development, the experiences they have coupled with
critical incidents or traumatic experiences, influence the person’s belief systems.
• The critical incidents or traumatic experiences activate the cognitive schema.
• Cognitive schemas lead to automatic thoughts – happens spontaneously and are often
times distorted, extreme or otherwise inaccurate.
Source of Dilemma
Cognitive Distortions appear when information processing is inaccurate or ineffective.
Cognitive schemas are subject to distortions because these schemas develop during childhood
where the thought process that supports a schema may reflect errors in reasoning. There are
eight (8) commonly identified cognitive distortions
Dichotomous Thinking By thinking that something has to
be either exactly as we want it or it
is a failure (all or nothing).
Selective Abstraction Picking out an idea from an event
to support the negative thinking.
Arbitrary Inference Coming to a conclusion that
contradicts or is not supported by
evidence or facts. It has two (2)
types: Mind Reading (idea that we
know what another person thinks)
and Negative Prediction (belief that
something bad is going to happen).
Catastrophizing Exaggerated event that it becomes
fearful or frightening.
Overgeneralization Making a rule based on a few
negative events.
Labeling and mislabeling Self-labeling based on some errors
or mistakes.
Magnification or minimization Magnify imperfection and minimize
good qualities.
Personalization Taking an event that is unrelated to
the individual and making it
meaningful.
Therapeutic Goals
• Remove biases or distortions in thinking so that individuals may function more effectively.
• Paying attention to information processing which may maintain feelings and behaviors that
are not adaptive.
• Challenge cognitive distortions to bring about more positive feelings, behaviors and
thinking.
Role of Counselor
• Bring an expertise in cognitions, behaviors and feelings to guide the client in determining
goals for therapy and means for reaching these goals.
Psychotherapeutic Techniques
• Understanding Idiosyncratic Meaning – different words have different meanings for
people. Depending on their automatic thoughts and cognitive schema.
• Challenging Absolutes – question or challenge absolute statements.
• Reattribution – distribute responsibility for an event.
• Labeling Distortions – helps client categorize their automatic thoughts.
• Decatastrophizing – Letting the client face an outcome they are afraid of and that
outcome is unlikely to happen. Works best with the “what if” technique.
• Challenging Dichotomous Thinking
• Listing Advantages and Disadvantages
• Cognitive Rehearsal – Use of imagination in dealing with upcoming events.
