Rewire Your Brain

Cognitive behavioural therapy can be as effective as meds for treating depression

- Allison Baker

How did cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) become one of the most prominent forms of therapy?

In the early 1960s, American psychologist Aaron T. Beck began studying the effectiveness of psychoanalysis-the type of 'talking cure' that most people associate with therapy-on patients with depression in an effort to validate the treatment in a more scientific way. His research showed that the psychoanalytic view of depression-that it is repressed aggression turned inwardwas inaccurate. Instead, Beck found that negative thoughts in the present influence our responses.

According to Beck, these "automatic thoughts" are affected by our core beliefs, or the central ideas that we have of ourselves. For instance, if someone who believes that they're a failure does poorly on a test, their response might be, "Of course I failed, because I'm a failure-so what's the point of trying?" They may feel depressed and unmotivated and consequently don't adapt in ways that could produce better outcomes. When they fail again, their negative core belief is 'proven!