01 - Foreword

Foreword

ix I am delighted that this third edition of Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond is being published. The field of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has grown by leaps and bounds in the past decade alone. One factor that makes this new edition so valuable is its adaptation of techniques from a wide variety of psychotherapies into treatment, in the context of the cognitive model. You’ll find important interventions from acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and others. Equally important, though, is its emphasis on a recovery or strengthsbased orientation as part of the foundation of CBT. A single depressed client is followed throughout the book, along with opportunities to stream the videos of therapy sessions and download worksheets. A second, more complex client is also portrayed throughout the book to illustrate variations of treatment when difficulties arise. When I first developed cognitive therapy in the 1960s and 1970s, I focused the conceptualization and treatment of individuals on their problems, negative cognitions, and dysfunctional coping strategies. By the mid-1980s, I could claim that cognitive therapy had attained the status of a “system of psychotherapy.” It consisted of (1) a theory of personality and psychopathology with solid empirical findings to support its basic postulates; (2) a model of psychotherapy with sets of principles and strategies that blended with the theory of psychopathology; and (3) solid empirical findings based on clinical outcome studies to support the efficacy of this approach. FOREWORD

Now, at the start of the third decade of the third millennium, we have developed a different focus in conceptualization and treatment. While negative aspects of individuals’ experiences are still important, it is at least equally important to conceptualize individuals’ aspirations, values, goals, strengths, and resources, and to incorporate these positive characteristics in helping them to take specific steps that are linked to what is most important to them. It’s also critical to anticipate obstacles to taking these steps, to use basic CBT skills (such as cognitive restructuring, problem solving, and skills training) to overcome the obstacles, and to help individuals draw positive conclusions about what their experiences say about them. This third edition of the basic text in the field offers readers fresh insights into 21st-century CBT and will be important for those who are already proficient in traditional CBT as well as students new to the field. Given the tremendous amount of new research and expansion of ideas that continue to move the field in exciting new directions, I applaud the efforts to expand this volume to incorporate some of the different ways of conceptualizing and treating our clients. The applications of CBT to a host of psychological and medical disorders extend far beyond anything I could have imagined when I treated my first few depressed and anxious clients with cognitive therapy. The formidable array of different applications of CBT is based on fundamental principles outlined in this volume. This book was written by Dr. Judith Beck, one of the foremost second-generation CBT educators, who, as a teenager, was one of the first to listen to me expound on my new theory. It will help aspiring therapists to learn the cutting-edge nuts and bolts of this therapy. Even CBT therapists who are skilled at delivering traditional CBT should find this book quite helpful in adopting a strengths-based approach, sharpening their conceptualization skills, expanding their repertoire of therapeutic techniques, planning more effective treatment, and troubleshooting difficulties in therapy. Of course, no book can substitute for supervision in CBT. But this book is an important volume and can enrich the supervision experience. Dr. Judith Beck is eminently qualified to offer this guide to CBT. For the past 35 years, she has conducted many hundreds of workshops and trainings in CBT all over the world as well as online, supervised both beginners and experienced therapists, helped develop treatment protocols for various disorders, and participated actively in CBT research. With such a background to draw on, she has written a book with a rich lode of information to apply this therapy, the earlier editions of which have been the leading CBT texts in most graduate psychology, psychiatry, social work, and counseling programs. x Foreword

The practice of CBT is not simple. Too many mental health professionals call themselves CBT therapists but lack even the most basic conceptual and treatment skills. The purpose of Dr. Judith Beck’s book is to educate, to teach, and to train both the novice and the experienced therapist in CBT, and she has succeeded admirably in this mission. Aaron T. Beck, MD

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