What is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)?
  
   Formal definition: CBT is a form of 
   psychotherapy based on cognitive therapy 
   and behaviour modification, in which the 
   client or patient learns to replace 
   dysfunctional self-speech (such as “I knew I’d 
   never be able to cope with this job”) with 
   adaptive alternatives(“The job’s not going 
   well, but I am capable of working out a plan 
   to overcome the problems”).
   Cognitive Therapy (CT) and 
   Behaviour Modification (BM)
   
    CT  is ‘a form of psychotherapy aimed at modifying 
    people’s beliefs, expectancies, assumptions, and styles 
    of thinking, based on the assumption that psychological 
    problems often stem from erroneous patterns of 
    thinking and distorted perceptions of reality…’ 
   
    BM is a collection of psychotherapeutic techniques 
    aimed at altering maladaptive behaviour patterns, the 
    basic assumptions being that most forms of mental 
    disorder can be interpreted as maladaptive patterns 
    of behaviour, and that treatment involves the 
    unlearning of these behaviour patterns and the 
    learning of new ones.
  The Origins of CBT
   
    The emergence of CBT is ascribed to the American 
    psychiatrist Aaron T Beck (b.1921). He developed it 
    while treating people for depression. 
   
    Beck used to adopt a psychoanalytic approach towards 
    the treatment of depression. He assumed the validity of 
    its theoretical proposition that depression was due to a 
    retroflected hostility, expressed as “a need to suffer”. 
    However, during the second half of the 1950s he came 
    to realise through empirical observation and study of 
    his depressed patients that the theory was wrong. The 
    treatment based on its assumptions did not work and 
    the patients themselves expressed their problems 
    differently. 
   Aaron Beck’s agonizing reappraisal
   
    This ‘marked discrepancy between laboratory findings 
    and clinical theory’ led Beck to an “agonizing 
    reappraisal” of his ‘own belief system’. He came to the 
    conclusion that depressed people had ‘a global negative 
    view’ of themselves.
   
    Consequently, Beck and his colleagues devised an 
    interactive treatment with their patients in which the 
    patients were set ‘homework’ which consisted of 
    observing their automatic negative mental reactions 
    and replacing them with positive responses structured 
    as incremental steps that could be taken to deal with 
    the observed challenges. This approach worked well and 
    directly ameliorated the depression symptoms. 
  Increasing use of CBT
   
    Since its development in the 1960s CBT has 
    grown almost exponentially in its clinical 
    applications.
   
    It has proved its effectiveness with a range of 
    personality disorders: 
    
     Anxiety including panic disorder
    
     Obsessive compulsive disorder
    
     Eating disorder
    
     Bipolar disorder, and
    
     Couples and family problems.