Cognitive Connie
Let's explore Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
The most extensively researched psychological treatment in history. Explore CBT's origins, key figures, core concepts, techniques, and the third-wave approaches that have extended it — from ACT and DBT to compassion-focused therapy.
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History of CBT: From Behaviourism to the Third Wave
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy did not arrive fully formed. It grew from a collision between two great intellectual traditions — the rigorous experimentalism of behaviourism and the clinical insight of the cognitive revolution.
Beck's Cognitive Model: The Cognitive Triad, Automatic Thoughts, Core Beliefs & Cognitive Distortions
The cognitive model is the theoretical engine of CBT. Proposed by Aaron Beck in the early 1960s — developed first in his work on depression and later elaborated in Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders (1976) and Cognitive Therapy of Depression (1979, with Rush, Shaw, and Emery) — it holds that psychological disturbance is maintained not by external events but by the meanings we attach to them.
Third-Wave CBT: ACT, DBT, MBCT & Beyond
Since the 1990s, a "third wave" of cognitive-behavioural therapies has emerged that retains CBT's empirical foundations while adding new dimensions: mindfulness, acceptance, values, compassion, and a more contextual understanding of human behaviour.
ACT: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a third-wave cognitive-behavioural approach developed by Steven C. Hayes and colleagues in the 1980s and 1990s, grounded in Relational Frame Theory (RFT) — a functional-analytic account of human language and cognition. Unlike traditional CBT, which targets the content of unhelpful thoughts for modification, ACT aims to alter the person's relationship with their inner experiences rather than changing what those experiences say.
CBT Techniques: Experiments, Exposure & Thought Records
CBT is defined not just by its theory but by its techniques — the structured, evidence-based methods that directly target the cognitive and behavioural mechanisms maintaining psychological difficulties. The hallmark of CBT practice is that techniques are not applied mechanically but emerge from the formulation and are delivered through a collaborative, Socratic relationship.
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