What is Cognitive Therapy? Cognitive Therapy is a form of psychotherapy which was originally developed by Aaron Beck in the 1960’s to understand and treat depression. Beck proposed that as human beings, we are constantly engaged in a process of filtering and interpreting information in order to make sense of the world and our experiences. While this is helpful because it makes the world more predictable, he argued that we all sometimes make errors, jump to conclusions or generally get things wrong. While it is human nature to make mistakes, Beck proposed that some people develop systematic, unhelpful biases in the way they interpret information, and patterns of negative or unhelpful thinking which help to explain their vulnerability to emotional problems.
Cognitive theory thus emphasises the role of cognitions (thoughts, assumptions and core beliefs) in explaining the way people feel. For example, when people feel anxious it is because they are predicting that an imminent situation will be threatening in some way. Furthermore, the level of anxiety will be higher the more a person views the feared event as being likely to happen, the more that is at stake should it happen, and the less the person views themselves as being able to cope.
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