cognitive behavioral therapy

Meaning: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a structured, short-term psychotherapy that combines cognitive therapy with behavioral therapy. The cognitive side, tied to Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis, holds that maladaptive thoughts such as catastrophizing, overgeneralizing and black-and-white thinking produce distress and unhelpful behavior. The client learns to identify these thoughts, test them against evidence and replace them. The behavioral side applies learning principles, for example gradual exposure to feared situations and scheduling rewarding activities, often with homework between sessions. CBT focuses on present problems and is commonly used for depression and anxiety disorders.

On the MCAT: A passage describes a client with depression, anxiety or a phobia, and you recognize CBT from the therapist's actions, such as asking for the evidence behind a belief or assigning exposure tasks. Expect contrasts with psychoanalysis (unconscious conflict and early experience), humanistic therapy (client-centered, nonjudgmental support) and biomedical therapy (drugs, ECT). It also connects to Beck's cognitive triad (negative views of self, world and future) and to learned helplessness.

Common confusion: Students treat CBT as pure behavior therapy or as insight therapy. Behavior therapy changes behavior through conditioning without targeting thoughts; CBT adds the restructuring of thinking, and it works on current beliefs rather than uncovering childhood roots.