Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, was developed by Aaron Beck in the 1960’s and is one of the most researched and widely used forms of psychotherapy.

It is also known as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (American spelling) as well as CBT.

Professor Beck was the first person to recognise the significance of thoughts in relation to people’s feelings and behaviours, in particular that our thoughts determine the way that we feel.

Furthermore, Beck also recognised that what we think on a day-to-day basis when encountering situations, are, in turn, determined by our core beliefs and values.

In this way, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy argues that we understand and give meaning to our experiences based on our core beliefs which influences how we then think and respond (behave) to those experiences.

How does Cognitive Behavioural Therapy work?

Normally a programme of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy involves 10 to 20 sessions of counselling, normally involving weekly sessions.

There are three principle phases to a programme of CBT:

1. Because the way you think about your day-to-day experiences is determined by your core beliefs, the early sessions of CBT involve exploring and measuring these beliefs.
2. Once you are able to uncover your core beliefs, your thoughts about certain experiences will make more sense.
3. By understanding how you have made sense of your experiences in the past you can then begin to make changes to your thoughts and beliefs in order to create new, and more useful, emotional outcomes.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is built upon 5 core CBT principles developed by Aaron Beck which are used extensively in our CORE Programme.