Q&A with Dr. Judith Beck
What do you think is important for a young CBT therapist or researcher to know about the history of CBT?
Aaron Beck has always started with clinical material first, working with clients and generating hypotheses about his observations. He tests his hypotheses, refines his theories, and bases treatment on these theories, continually testing and improving the validity of his theories and the efficacy of treatment. He continues to do so to this day, in his work with individuals with schizophrenia. Researchers should follow his lead, always treating clients to inform their work. And they should learn to treat clients outside of their specialty area, for example, clients with different ages, cultures, genders, diagnoses, and so on, so they can maintain a broad perspective.
What is in your opinion most exciting about CBT today?
There are many different directions the field is going in today, but I’ll just choose one, something that we’re heavily involved in at the Beck Institute: developing online training programs for therapists. So many mental health professionals throughout the world can’t afford existing training programs or can’t travel to attend workshops or conferences. With today’s technology, we can train many more mental health and health professionals in evidence-based treatments. So many more people, with a range of problems, can be helped.
Any predictions for the future? Will there be a place for CBT in the future?
Yes—and the treatment for certain disorders may look somewhat different from how it looks today, based on advances in research and technology. And I hope more people will adopt a different view of CBT. Many professionals believe that CBT is defined by its use of cognitive and behavioral strategies. But that’s too narrow a definition. CBT should be seen as a system of psychotherapy that is based on the cognitive model, not based on its use of certain techniques. In fact, with clients with personality disorders, we often adapt techniques from a range of psychotherapeutic modalities, used in the context of the cognitive model, such as strategies more commonly associated with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Positive Psychology, and a number of others. CBT will continue to be a major force in mental health treatment as long as research studies show equal or better outcomes for both treatment and relapse prevention.