Aaron Beck's therapeutic approach that focuses on identifying and changing dysfunctional thought patterns that contribute to emotional and behavioral problems. It assumes that how we think about situations affects how we feel and behave.
Developed by Aaron Beck in the 1960s, combining 'cognitive' (from Latin 'cognoscere' meaning 'to know') with therapy. Beck was originally trained in psychoanalysis but developed this approach after noticing that depressed patients had characteristic patterns of negative thinking.
Cognitive therapy discovered that depression isn't just about feeling sad—it's about having a systematically biased way of thinking! Beck identified the 'cognitive triad' of depression: negative thoughts about self, world, and future, showing that changing these thought patterns could lift depression more effectively than just exploring childhood experiences.
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