Aaron Beck, An American Psychiatrist

Aaron T. Beck developed Cognitive Therapy (CT) and he was an American psychiatrist in the 1960s. Murdock (2013) states how cognitive therapy is “often used as a general label for a number of systems that emphasize a role of cognition in dysfunction and intervention” (p. 314).Beck's cognitive therapy model stated that a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors were all interconnected. He believed that in order for a person to overcome mental difficulties that he or she needed to identify unhealthy and inaccurate thoughts, problematic behaviors, and negative emotions in order for the client to meet his of her therapeutic goals. His Cognitive model placed these distorted cognitive beliefs into three categories or levels: automatic thoughts, intermediate beliefs, and the core belief (basic

“Cognitive therapy first came to the attention of British psychologists and psychiatrists through the pioneering work of the British researchers who sought to evaluate the efficacy of Beck’s treatment for depression.”

What is depression? Depression is one of the most common mental disorders. It does not only affect your mind but your entire body as well. Depression can lead to things such as loss of interest in your everyday activities, weight loss or gain, insomnia, feelings of unworthiness and even thoughts of suicide. Luckily, depression can be cured through medication and therapy. Many people believe that the older they are the less likely they are to suffer from this mental disorder. They believe that they are wiser and know how to handle curveballs when life throws it at them. However, depression does not discriminate meaning that no matter what age or gender you are, you can be at risk of experiencing it.

Major depression is a commonly diagnosed psychological disorder affecting individuals’ ability to feel happiness and peace of mind. Those who suffer experience negative emotions, lack of motivation, changes in behaviour and dysfunctional cognitive symptoms. Depression is classified by the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) as five of more of the listed symptoms present persistently over the same two weeks. One of these symptoms must be depressed mood or loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities. Depression causes disruption to typical daily life such as inability to maintain friendships and jobs. Other symptoms outlined by the DSM-5 include; insomnia, fatigue and recurrent thoughts of death. There is much debate over what exactly causes depression. Biological explanations question hereditary and neurotransmitter factors. While psychological theories include the cognitive ideas of Beck’s negative triad and hopelessness theory. This essay will focus on the ways in which psychological and biological explanations contrast and how their theories can overlap to better understand depression.

Depression is a severe illness the makes a person feel insecure, worthless. and daily tasks become difficult. They are different types of depression because According to Medical News Today states “depression is likely to be caused by a complex combination of factors, genetic, environmental, and psychological”. The probability is significant with genetics. At times an individual may become substantially depressed that they believe their life achievements seem futile. Depression is a

Aaron T. Beck is the man who created cognitive therapy and unlike many he endured a rough childhood. He came from

Depression is an affective disorder, demonstrating many symptoms such as “hopelessness, helplessness, personal devaluation, and extreme sadness” (depression, 1).Though sadness is something everyone experiences, people who have

In the early 1960’s, a psychologist of the name Arron Beck, now known as the father of cognitive behavioral therapy. Beck formulated an approach called cognitive therapy. This approach was first devised for treating depression. This theory is based on human behavior (Sudak, Codd, & Ludgate, 2015). Before this time, psychodynamic approaches used for depression were based off the work

Through research on depression, Aaron Beck helped developed a form of therapy known as cognitive therapy. Beck also discovered that people’s minds have a tendency to perceive reality in a distorted manner. This distortion of reality ultimately leads to “faulty assumptions” and is known as cognitive distortions.(Corey & Corey, 2014) Listed and described below are a few of Beck’s cognitive distortions.

This excerpt in this book gives you an idea of what cognitive therapy is and how it helps the person learn a different way to cope or respond in a stressful situation. Dr. Aaron Beck is a psychiatrist that first developed it. He was more of a research doctor and has done numerous clinical studies about the effectiveness of cognitive therapy. He later opened a practice with his daughter Dr. Judith Beck in 1994 naming it Beck Institution.

In the late 1980s, I was introduced to the cognitive perspective on clinical disorders by Aaron T. Beck. I was privileged to spend a few months at the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Philadelphia, where I received training in Beck’s therapy approach. Over the last 15 years I have

Aaron Beck is an American psychiatrist and a professor emeritus in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania (GoodTheraoy.org). Beck has had an interest in the changes of human nature goes as far back as he can remember. Beck is known as a trailblazer in the psychology world because he focused on disoriented thoughts that lead to problematic behaviors such as depression. “Beck struggled to find a way to help his depressed client’s better capture their emotions. He realized that many of his depressed clients experienced recurring negative thoughts and that as long as they believed these thoughts to be true, they would continue to have symptoms of depression”(GoodTherapy.org). Beck spent much of his career at the University of Pennsylvania and advocated for the application of cognitive behavioral therapy in the treatment of depression and other mood problems (GoodTherapy.org).

In this study, the researcher used Beck’s Cognitive Theory as the theoretical framework and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as a process of intervention because the aim of the study was to reduce depression

Dr. David Burns gave a TED talk explaining the benefit of cognitive therapy on patients who suffer from anxiety and depression. The “black hole” of depression, anxiety, and self-doubt can lead some individuals to contemplate and attempt suicide. Often times, antidepressants have been prescribed to patients as a solution to help alleviate their depression. Unfortunately, antidepressants do not always work and are not the best solution. Dr. Burns changed the way the way he practiced after seeing the benefit of using cognitive therapy and the power of positive thinking. The three basic ideas behind cognitive therapy are our thoughts create all of our moods, when one is depressed or anxious thoughts become distorted and are not realistic,

Aaron Beck developed the cognitive therapy concept in the 1960s. Beck was very ill as a child and perceive his mother to be depressed and unpredictable due to losing two children in their infancy due to illness. Beck graduated from Brown University and Yale Medical School. According to Beck’s daughter Judith, cognitive therapy is based on the ideas of the stoic philosophers in Greece and Rome (Seligman et al, 2014, p. 294) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was founded by Donald Meichenbaum, a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. While he was working on his dissertation for his doctoral degree, he noticed that people with schizophrenia who were taught healthy self-talk fared better in other measures than those with schizophrenia who were not talk about healthy self talk.