Supporting the Growth of CBT in Asia: Reflections on the 8th Asian CBT Conference

Beck Institute was proud to play a pivotal role in the 8^th Asian CBT Conference which was held in New Delhi, India from February 28 to March 2, 2024. Beck Institute sponsored the conference, provided a discount on training to all attendees, and assisted in the selection of two important awardees who were honored at the conference closing ceremonies. Beck Institute’s acting Executive Director Dr. Allen Miller attended the conference and made several important presentations in addition to speaking at the opening ceremony and presenting the awards. 

Dr. Miller’s Impressions 

Dr. Miller greatly enjoyed his time at the conference and spent a great deal of time answering questions about Beck Institute’s training and resources, and about CBT in general. “There is a great interest in CBT and a desire for training,” he reported. “This was especially true of young students who want to learn and practice CBT in accordance with the Beck model.” Dr. Miller presented a talk on Humanism in CBT, a workshop on CBT in Practice, and participated in a panel discussion on Training and Supervision of CBT Practitioners in Asian Countries. He was particularly pleased to serve as Chair and Discussant for a skills class on Using the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale-Revised (CTRS-R). Dr. Miller helped create the CTRS-R to standardize the scoring process for the original CTRS, resulting in more objective session scoring during supervision. This tool has been downloaded from the Beck Institute website over 3,300 times. 

Beck Institute’s acting Executive Director, Dr. Allen Miller, presents at the 8^th Asian CBT Conference. 

The Aaron Beck Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research in CBT from Asia 

This award was created to acknowledge the contributions of an early career professional in the Asian region who has demonstrated outstanding achievement and great potential in CBT research. This award was given to Dr. Rati Khurana for her research into positive cognitive behavioral interventions for caregivers of patients with mental health conditions. Dr. Khurana found that interventions focused on identifying and building individual strengths helped reduce the experience of stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety among caregivers. We are pleased to see important research being done in the areas of caregiver stress and burnout, particularly as few intervention studies have been conducted with Indian participants. Caregiving is such an important role and deserves more research. We hope this award will bring more attention to Dr. Khurana’s work. 

The Aaron Beck Award for Distinguished CBT Researcher from Asia 

This award recognizes a mid-career professional from Asia who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in CBT research. This award was given to Dr. Kee-Hong Choi, a prominent figure in the field from South Korea. Professor Choi has advanced both the theoretical and practical applications of CBT through his research and advocacy work. His accomplishments include adapting behavioral activation treatment manuals for the Korean culture and conducting research into their effectiveness. He has also worked with the Youth Foundation and the National Research Foundation of Korea to test a group CBT protocol for youth experiencing social anxiety disorder. Finally, he has been involved in policy developments that have enhanced the accessibility of evidence-based mental healthcare in Korea. As we honor Professor Choi’s accomplishments thus far, we anticipate that he will play a significant role in the development and dissemination of CBT in Asia. 

Concluding Thoughts 

Beck Institute and Dr. Miller are exceedingly grateful to Dr. Nimisha Kumar, the founder of the Indian Association for CBT (IACBT) and President of the Asian CBT Association, for coordinating such an important and successful conference. Dr. Miller and Dr. Kumar have worked together to provide training opportunities for IACBT, and we look forward to continuing our relationship well into the future. Dr. Miller remarked that the quality of the presentations was excellent, and he was impressed by several presentations that highlighted the large and growing body of CBT research.  

Dr. Miller also had the pleasure of meeting with representatives from the Japanese Association of Cognitive Therapy, who invited him to speak at their meeting in July. Dr. Miller is greatly looking forward to meeting with our colleagues in Japan. 

Overall, we are impressed and pleased with the growth of CBT in Asia and look forward to supporting professionals throughout the region with world class CBT training.