CBT or Cognitive Behaviour(al) Therapy is an umbrella term for a group of therapies aimed at reducing the impact of emotional distress. It is often described as being a talking therapy, although it may be more appropriate to consider it to be a doing therapy, due to its highly practical structure, process and its behaviour therapy origins.
CBT essentially focuses on the link between thoughts and images (the cognitive processes), what we as people do (our behaviour), and how this impacts on how we feel (our emotions and physiology). It is also very much a ‘here and now’ therapy, although it would be a fallacy to suggest CBT is not concerned with the past.
According to the Internet Classics archive, the Ancient Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus writes in his handbook (the Enchiridion),
Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things.
In simple terms , the cognitive model can be described as:
Event———–> Appraisal / Interpretation of event—————> Emotion
This idea was developed by Aaron T Beck (1976), who suggested that people are not disturbed by events but by the interpretation of the event. Therefore, the cognitive approach aims to understand why people appraise events as they do. In other words, how people think can affect how they feel and subsequently how they behave.
The cognitive behavioural approach to human difficulties takes into account the meanings, emotions and behaviours of the individual within the context of their past experiences and current environment. This approach allows therapists to develop meaningful insights into what caused the problem in the first place and what is keeping it there.
References
Beck, A. (1976) Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders, London, Penguin.
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