What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epictetus was quoted as saying:"It is not the things of this world that hurt us but what we think about them" and this view is now widely accepted throughout mainstream psychology. The philosophic origins of CBT can also be traced back to the Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, who wrote in “The Enchiridion”: 

"Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them."
 

 

 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT as it is more commonly known is a therapy that focuses on the particular way in which an individual thinks, behaves and acts in an attempt to deal successfully with their behavioural, emotional and social problems, issues and challenges. 
 
CBT is a form of psychotherapy which focuses on addressing, challenging and changing a person‟s emotional issues. 
 
It can also be a way of focusing on, and thinking about, how an individual thinks about themselves, the world around them and other people. 
 
The CBT process can actually help change the thought process, "Cognitive" and what is done -"Behaviour".  
 
These changes can support an individual allowing them to feel better about themselves.  Unlike so many of the other conversational treatments, it focuses on the current "here and now" of problems and issues and not with events past.  
 
Therefore, instead of focusing on the possible causes and reasons for unhappiness and dissatisfaction or symptoms stemming from the past, it will always look for ways to improve the individual's state of mind currently and for the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is frequently considered to be a working combination of psychotherapy and behavioural therapies.    

Briefly, Psychotherapy emphasizes the importance of the personal meaning that an individual places upon things and how the majority of thinking patterns are formed in childhood whereas Behavioural therapy emphasizes the relationship between personal problems and the way that an individual behaves and thinks. 

 

 

Here's a Brief list of conditions that CBT can help with:  
 

• Abandonment issues 

• Addiction

• Anger Management

• Anxiety 

• Body Dysmorphic Disorder or Syndrome – (BDD)

• Chronic and Acute Pain Management

• Chronic Fatigue Disorder

• Depression.

• Eating Disorders

• Free-floating Fear

• Interrelationship Issues

• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – (OCD)

• Obsessions

• Panic Attacks

• Panic Disorders

• Past Life Experiences

• Poor Self-Esteem

• Minor Personality Disorders

• Phobias

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – (PTSD)

• Self-Harming

• Social Phobias

• Some Medical Conditions

• Substance Misuse 

​

​

​

​

CBT works by the changing of personal attitudes and behaviours by focusing on the thoughts, images, beliefs and attitudes that are held in our cognitive systems and how this relates to behaviour, as a way of dealing with emotional problems. 
 
One of the greatest advantages of CBT as a therapeutic intervention is that its duration is frequently short, taking four to seven months for most emotional issues, far shorter than the majority of Psychological therapeutic interventions. 
 
Clients will usually attend one session per week and each session lasts approximately 50 minutes. 
During this time, the patient/client and therapist are working together to understand what the problems are and developing new working strategies or game plans for dealing with them.  
 
In this way, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy could be seen as similar to Life Coaching which is also current and future based and deals with goal orientated  Solutions and focused strategies that the client commits to working with to deal with specific issues or concerns. 
 
CBT teaches and empowers the client to learn specific principles and guidelines that they can apply whenever they need to, and which will support them throughout their lives. 

 

What CBT isn’t 
 
CBT is not Counselling, Psychiatry, Hypnosis or Abnormal Psychology but a recognised form of Psychology that is successful on many differing levels. 

Brief History of CBT

The first major influence, Behaviour Therapy, came into use during the 1950's and 1960's and was mainly used by Wolpe and Ellis.  The first recorded intentionally recognised therapeutic approach to CBT was developed and was termed as Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), which was pioneered by Albert Ellis in the 1950's. 

As his concepts and practice of RET grew from research and clinical practice, it became known  in therapeutic circles as  Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT) by the 1960‟s but was not renamed until much later. 
 
Ellis researched and developed his approach in direct opposition to his dislike and mistrust of the inefficient processes of Psychoanalysis.  He was also influenced by the Behaviourists, including John Dollard, Neal Miller, and George Kelly who developed the Psychology of Personal Constructs.  Ellis also developed and made popular the ABC model of emotions.
 

The other modern psychotherapist who influenced the development of RET was Alfred Adler - who originally developed the Individual Psychology intervention process.  
Adler, who was a noted non-Freudian, stated, "I am convinced that a person's behaviour springs from his ideas."    
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy came about as a direct reaction to the Freudian concepts that had dominated psychotherapy since the nineteenth century. 
 
Sigmund Freud's (1856 – 1939) psychoanalytical therapy focused upon the role of unresolved and unconscious conflicts and issues that had originated from childhood and an individual‟s childhood years.  He believed that these childhood issues then had the power to affect and determine the ways in which an individual would behave, feel and relate to themselves, other people and the world around them. 

The ground breaking work of B.F. Skinner, who for many, is considered the father of modern behaviour therapy is also strongly linked to the nature and evolution of CBT.
Skinner held psychology accountable as a science of human behaviour, not just of human emotion and feeling.  Due to this, many of the techniques taken from Skinner's basic behavioural scientific rationale continue to be used with successful effect within modern Psychotherapy.   

The second major influence is the Cognitive Therapy approach which was developed by A. T. Beck in the 1960's but in full use during the „Cognitive revolution‟ of the mid and late 1970's. 
 
Ellis and Beck, and their many successors, completely changed the process and practice of Psychotherapy by focusing directly upon therapy techniques that aimed to change the content and manner of client thought processes, not just their behaviours and actions.   
 
In the 1960s, Aaron T. Beck, an American psychiatrist born in 1921, observed that during his analytical sessions, his patients tended to have an internal dialogue going on in their minds; almost as if they were talking to themselves and that they would only report a tiny amount of this inner conversation to him, even when continuously prompted. 
 
Beck considered that the link between thoughts and feelings was a very important aspect of treatment that had previously not been given much credence.
From this, he then invented the term „automatic thoughts‟ to describe these emotion-filled thoughts that were constantly in the minds of his clients.  

During the 1960's, Maxie C. Maultsby, Jr. who was a student of Ellis developed Rational Behaviour Therapy.   
 
 Maultsby's contributions were numerous, and include his best known rationale on the patient/client rational self-counselling skills and therapeutic homework.   He also developed the concept of "thought shorthand", to which he refers as "attitudes", Rational Emotive Imagery, Rational Self-Analysis, and the Five Criteria for Rational Behaviour. 
 
Other influential theorists and practitioners include Michael Mahoney, Donald Meichenbaum, who developed Stress Inoculation Therapy and David Burns. 
 
David Burns, M.D. brought CBT to the public awareness with his 1980's book, “Feeling Good.” 
 
Most recently, CBT has been influenced by the work of Aldo Pucci, who developed Rational Living Therapy, Michael Mahoney, Marsha Linehan, and Arthur Freeman. 
 
Cognitive Therapy and Behaviour Therapy have continued to cross-fertilize each other over the years up to the present day and now continue to change and grow as each new generation of therapists practice and learn new ways of working within the Cognitive Behavioural Therapies.