Three levels of cognition
- Automatic thoughts: brief thoughts that pop up in a situation (e.g. "I've messed up again").
- Intermediate beliefs: rules, attitudes and assumptions (e.g. "If I'm not perfect, I've failed").
- Core beliefs (schemas): deep, global beliefs about self, others and the world (e.g. "I'm incompetent").
The cognitive triad of depression
Beck observed that depressed people tend to view themselves, the world (their experience) and the future negatively, and called this the cognitive triad.
Common cognitive distortions
- All-or-nothing (black-and-white) thinking
- Overgeneralisation
- Mental filter (seeing only the negative)
- Arbitrary inference (jumping to conclusions), mind reading
- Magnification and minimisation, catastrophising
- Personalisation, labelling, "should" statements
Methods
Therapist and client treat thoughts as hypotheses and examine the evidence together (collaborative empiricism), and the therapist uses Socratic questioning so the client discovers answers rather than being told. Sessions are structured: agenda setting, homework review, thought records, behavioural experiments and new homework. Its use has spread from depression to anxiety disorders and more.
How it differs from REBT
Both hold that thoughts create feelings, but Ellis's rational emotive behaviour therapy has the therapist actively dispute irrational beliefs, while Beck's therapy puts more weight on testing thoughts against evidence together with the client. For the wider cognitive perspective see cognitive theory.
See also: Cognitive-Behavioral Theory
References
- Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. International Universities Press.
- Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive Therapy of Depression. Guilford Press.
- Beck, J. S. (2021). Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
- Burns, D. D. (1980). Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. William Morrow.