CBT in the Real World

In the past few months I’ve seen several comments about how CBT is “constrained” by treatment protocols. Apparently, some practitioners have the impression that CBT is “cookbook” approach where the therapist takes a manualized treatment protocol and imposes it on the client without tailoring it to the client’s needs. They seem to think that if […]

The Therapeutic Relationship in CBT

In a recent online discussion, a colleague wrote “Perhaps psychodynamic therapists have relied too heavily on the relationship at the expense of client skill-building, while the opposite tends to be true for CBT therapists.”  This is a common criticism of CBT, but is there reason to believe that CBT therapists emphasize client skill-building at the […]

The Academy of Cognitive Therapy opens new membership levels

Of all the professional associations to which I belong, the Academy of Cognitive Therapy (www.AcademyOfCT.org) is one of the best. I especially value the high levels of CBT discussions and information on the Academy’s ListServ. Until recently, the only way to join the Academy (and be able to read the ListServ) was to become a […]

Using Homework in CBT

The October, 2010 edition of Advances in Cognitive Therapy (the newsletter of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy and the International Association of Cognitive Psychotherapy) is a special issue on homework in CT. Here are a few highlights: Homework assignments are a core feature of Beck’r CBT but some studies have found weak correlations between homework […]