Didactics vs Experiential in CT

Saying that some clients may fail to connect with our didactic approach implies that the usual CT approach is didactic, that we spend much of our time teaching and explaining. I certainly would agree that a didactic approach often fails to connect emotionally but a didactic approach isn't characteriatic of CT.

If you look back at some of the classic texts on CT such as Beck's Cognitive Therapy of Depression, you'll see that he emphasizes guided discovery andcollaborative empiricism. If CT is practiced in a purely verbal, didactic way it loses much of its power. When the therapist guides the client to make observations, collect data, and draw conclusions based on personal experience, this has much more impact. In particular, behavioral experiments in which the client's automatic thoughts or dysfunctional beliefs are reframed as testable hypotheses and then the client is helped to test them against real-life experience, are particularly powerful. If your CT consists primarily of logical analysis and didactic discussions within the office, you are sacrificing some of the most powerful interventions we have available. The experiential componet of CT is essential.

It also is true that clients often avoid experiencing aversive affect and/or memories and that this can limit the impact of interventions if it is not addressed. When this occurs, it can be useful to help the client consider the pros and cons of avoiding aversive experiences and to support them in facing the axperiences they have been avoiding.

Replies:

Didatics vs Experiential in CT, by Peter Gambino, 4/10/97 Experiential techniques in CT, by Jim Pretzer, 4/12/97

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