History of Cbt and Its Journey Into Mainstream Psychotherapy
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- Date Submitted: 10/26/2011 02:42 PM
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OUTLINE THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY AND ITS JOURNEY INTO MAINSTREAM PSYCHOTHERAPY TODAY
Cognitive behavioural Therapy is not an entirely new concept. In fact it’s theoretical origins can be traced back over 1800 years to the Greek philosopher Epictetus who observed that “people are not disturbed by the events that happen, more so by the view that they take of them” (Woolfe and Dryden, 1996).
However for the purpose of this essay I will look at the history of CBT from the late fifties onwards, in particular looking at the theories of Behaviourism, Cognitive Therapy and Rational Emotive Therapy and how these have influenced the development of CBT.
The two main therapies which have influenced CBT are Behaviour Therapy (BT) and Cognitive Therapy (CT) The earlier of the two approaches was behaviourism. Behaviour therapy arose as a reaction against the Freudian psychodynamic regime of the time. In the 1950’s Freudian psychoanalysis was questioned by behaviourists such as Skinner, Watson, Pavlov, Tolman and Thorndike due to it’s lack of empirical evidence to support either it’s theory or it’s effectiveness (www.sagepub.com).
Behaviourism assumes that most maladaptive behaviours are learned behaviour, and therefore the therapist will strive to help clients "unlearn" them, or replace them with new more acceptable behaviours .
Pavlov’s Classical conditioning was an early behaviourist model whereby the theory is that, mental processes do not determine what we do; rather we are a product of our conditioning. Stemming from this, B.F. Skinner became the chief exponent of that form of behaviourism known as operant conditioning. Both these models were the first attempts made to turn behaviourism into therapy and provided the rationale for the Systematic Desensitisation Technique devised by Wolpe in 1958 (Gross, 2005).
The behavioural approach was based on the theory that the focus for assessment and therapy should be on...
Cognitive behavioural Therapy is not an entirely new concept. In fact it’s theoretical origins can be traced back over 1800 years to the Greek philosopher Epictetus who observed that “people are not disturbed by the events that happen, more so by the view that they take of them” (Woolfe and Dryden, 1996).
However for the purpose of this essay I will look at the history of CBT from the late fifties onwards, in particular looking at the theories of Behaviourism, Cognitive Therapy and Rational Emotive Therapy and how these have influenced the development of CBT.
The two main therapies which have influenced CBT are Behaviour Therapy (BT) and Cognitive Therapy (CT) The earlier of the two approaches was behaviourism. Behaviour therapy arose as a reaction against the Freudian psychodynamic regime of the time. In the 1950’s Freudian psychoanalysis was questioned by behaviourists such as Skinner, Watson, Pavlov, Tolman and Thorndike due to it’s lack of empirical evidence to support either it’s theory or it’s effectiveness (www.sagepub.com).
Behaviourism assumes that most maladaptive behaviours are learned behaviour, and therefore the therapist will strive to help clients "unlearn" them, or replace them with new more acceptable behaviours .
Pavlov’s Classical conditioning was an early behaviourist model whereby the theory is that, mental processes do not determine what we do; rather we are a product of our conditioning. Stemming from this, B.F. Skinner became the chief exponent of that form of behaviourism known as operant conditioning. Both these models were the first attempts made to turn behaviourism into therapy and provided the rationale for the Systematic Desensitisation Technique devised by Wolpe in 1958 (Gross, 2005).
The behavioural approach was based on the theory that the focus for assessment and therapy should be on...