When I was learning to do therapy as a graduate student, we spent the majority of our supervision sessions discussing details of client history and trying to conceptualize what was going on. Often it was hard to know how to link these discussions with the challenges I was facing in my therapy sessions. In group […]
Consultation, Supervision, Training
My neighbor was remodeling her house this summer. We watched specialized teams of workers come and go, each one completing a different project. And interestingly enough, each team used different tools. They were following the principle that you get the best results when you use tools best suited to the task. I typically say, “Use […]
Anxiety, Automatic Thoughts, Behavioral Experiments, Core Beliefs, Depression, Mind Over Mood, Thought Records, Underlying Assumptions
Many people know that Dr. Aaron T Beck and I have been friends for more than 35 years. They are understandably curious about what I can tell them about this famous man who launched Cognitive Therapy and changed the face of psychotherapy. I’ve often been asked, “What has it been like to be mentored by […]
Beck
Have you ever attended a really good workshop and months later found your notes on a shelf and realized you never put into practice what you learned? Therapists invest a significant amount of time and money into training, often by attending workshops. What most therapists don’t realize is that if they spent just a little […]
Reflection, Research, Training, Workshops
One of my favorite activities during the week is consultation with individual and small groups of therapists. Consultations help me refine my understanding and teaching of the connections between CBT theory, methods, and clinical practice. Questions asked often prompt new creative ideas. Over the past few months I have been consulting with one group on […]
Behavioral Experiments, Consultation, Depression, Pleasure
As the gladiolas begin to bloom in front of our Center, I am thinking about aspects of CBT that are often treated as “dormant” elements and yet which, like underground bulbs, play a big role in our visible therapy outcomes. One of these elements is therapy structure. CBT includes a number of structured elements: weekly […]
Structure, Therapy Outcome