Late 2020 saw the release of two major works by Beck Institute leadership: Dr. Judith S. Beck released the third edition of her classic Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond, in October; and Drs. Aaron T. Beck, Paul M. Grant, Ellen Inverso, and colleagues released Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy for Serious Mental Health Conditions in December.
Nearly a year after both books were released, we sat down with some of the authors to hear what people have been telling them about the impact of their books.
Dr. Judith S. Beck, President
Q: How has the book been received?
A: I’ve gotten so much positive feedback. People really seem to appreciate the two case examples I use throughout the book—Abe is severely depressed, and Mary has traits of borderline personality disorder. Readers really like the videos of therapy sessions and the annotated therapy transcripts, too. And I’ve heard from a lot of people who say they finally understand how to incorporate positive psychology and recovery-oriented techniques in CBT.
The book is scheduled to be translated into 14 languages, with more to come. I expect it will be used in lots of different settings and for multiple populations across different cultures. I’m hoping it will allow many more people from all over to get access to cutting-edge CBT treatment.
Q: What was your process for revising this book? What is new in the book?
A: It took me more than two years to do the revision. I began by asking for feedback from people who had read one of the first two editions. In fact, that’s why I used client examples that were more challenging and more like patients whom students and clinicians were treating in real life
I also incorporated a recovery-oriented approach to standard CBT treatment throughout the book. I learned this approach from my father and his colleagues, who also published a book on this subject last year. [You can read an interview with Paul Grant and Ellen Inverso below.]
The book is different in many other ways. In fact, about 50 percent of it is new material. Our team at Beck Institute also created a website with videos and downloadable materials and resources. You can hear more about the new material in this interview I did with Dr. Allen Frances soon after the book was released.
Q: What is next for you?
A: I continue to treat clients, do Supervision, create webinars, consult with organizations, teach psychiatric residents at Penn, work on new on-demand courses—and a whole lot of other things to help promote our non-profit mission of improving lives worldwide through excellence and innovation in CBT treatment, training, and research. .
Dr. Paul M. Grant, Director of Research, Innovation, and Practice at the Beck Institute Center for CT-R; and Dr. Ellen Inverso, Director of Clinical Training and Implementation at the Beck Institute Center for CT-R
Q: How has the book been received?
A: Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy for Serious Mental Health Conditions looks to be a much-desired resource. Those we have trained in the past have responded to the news that there is now a CT-R book with a surprising relish. Being able to hold the book in your hands, marking it up, dog-earing pages; to be able to regularly consult it, check understanding, share ideas with colleagues – all of this adds quality to the experience of learning and doing CT-R successfully. That was our goal in creating this book! We have received compliments about it being written directly with minimal jargon, which means the book can be used by professionals, paraprofessionals, and others who work in the full range of care settings where individuals with a diagnoses of serious mental health conditions participate in life and treatment.
And so far, the book has been translated into five languages, so we’re hoping more people around the world will learn about CT-R and begin implementing some techniques right away.
Q: Have you heard from anyone who uses the book regularly?
A: We have! We received the following feedback from Robert Reiser, PhD:
Recovery-oriented Cognitive Therapy for Serious Mental Health Conditions provides a tremendous roadmap for recovery based clinical work. For example, “Evaluating progress and drawing conclusions from positive action” (83) illustrated the use of Socratic questioning to develop and enhance positive beliefs about self. This gave me an amazing tool to consistently work on developing positive beliefs. I used these exact strategies with a client who has a history of very severe depression, deactivation, ECT and multiple hospitalizations. After working repeatedly over many months together on taking small steps (primarily involving social engagement), especially when he was feeling hopeless, low energy and alienated, the client reported that he had taken a number of small steps to be more socially engaged and reports on several successful social activities engaging with others over the past week.
Therapist: What’s the meaning we can draw from this about you?
Client: Maybe, it’s possible for me to be okay. [Smiling]
Therapist: How does this change your view of yourself?
Client: Maybe I’m acceptable to others (and not a defective, unlovable person).
Therapist: What other conclusions can we draw?
Client: The future isn’t hopeless. It’s important to be persistent and keep trying.
Q: What was your process for writing this book?
A: It was a delight to learn and refine the approach during the writing process. We are always discovering new ways to do CT-R and be more effective at promoting desired lives. With each new strategy, intervention, and target, we would describe it as simply as we could, including enough detail that anyone could do it. Our ethos is practical and transformative application of CT-R theory and therapy. Although it is odd to say, it was fortuitous that we completed the book during the pandemic, as we were able to incorporate telehealth CT-R into the book based on real clinical experiences. One element of which we are particularly proud is the reproducible handouts included in the book. Staff members at our partner treatment facilities have really helped us see how useful these handouts can be in daily practice! We have heard that they photocopy CT-R materials and post on nurse’s station bulletin boards to make it easier for trainees to share what they’ve learned about CT-R. We can’t wait to see where our handouts will pop up next!
Q: What do you think is next for the BI Center for CT-R?
A: Making CT-R accessible and approachable is very important to us. We are focusing upon more efficiently training and implementing CT-R in places where there is the greatest need: forensic settings, homelessness outreach, residential programs, for example. There are applications of CT-R directly to physical health. We also have focused trainings and implementation programs for nurses and peer specialists. We hope to expand the scope to social workers and psychiatric rehabilitation specialists.
We just released our first on-demand course at Beck Institute, also titled Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy for Serious Mental Health Conditions. It’s so exciting to see this course out in the world (trainees in 12 countries have taken it so far!) and fulfilling to provide a comprehensive introduction to CT-R in an accessible format.
We’re also working on some new, shorter trainings, such as our live webinar focused on CT-R in Residential Programs, in effort to spread this effective practice and help more individuals live the lives of their choosing.