Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond

Rating:
Summary: Missing the Target!
Review: This is an excellent text on cognitive therapy. And it
should be good reading for the layman or laywoman as well
as mental health professionals. Unfortunately, the subject matter needs serious surgery. When we try to smear a
"rational" reference point over a reference point, we are
still left with the whole problem. A reference point!
People with mental problems (as if there is anyone without
"mental problems"), have too many reference points. As the
author explains to us, our pain is caused by "cognitive distortions." That we lost our job or our spouse is
highly undesirable. But it is not "terrible." We can still
go on. Life is still worth living. And so on. This is substituting
a sandwich full of nails for a sandwich full of paste.
We are still left with too many sandwiches and way too much
paste. His Holiness the Dali Lama is the head of the Tibetan
Buddhist Tradition of Gelukpa Buddhism. In these teachings,
it is stated that one did not lose either a job or our spouse.
These are just labels! And they are cognitive distortions
within themselves. In the former case, we were informed that
we would no longer be coming to a place and receiving money.
In the latter case, someone stopped breathing. By taking
out our Label Maker and creating new and apparently more
'rational' labels, we are saying that words are real. And
this is the entire problem with the neurotic and the psychotic (not including the fact that someone labeled them a "neurotic" or a "psychotic"). The cure is seeing through all labels.
Then we can relax and feel friendly in a harshly defined
universe. There is not one interpretation that we can make
of anything that can't be shown as invalid when we view
it from another angle. So why interpret phenemona as anything unless it serves a utilitarian purpose?

Rating:
Summary: Missing the Target!
Review: This is an excellent text on cognitive therapy. And it
should be good reading for the layman or laywoman as well
as mental health professionals. Unfortunately, the subject matter needs serious surgery. When we try to smear a
"rational" reference point over a reference point, we are
still left with the whole problem. A reference point!
People with mental problems (as if there is anyone without
"mental problems"), have too many reference points. As the
author explains to us, our pain is caused by "cognitive distortions." That we lost our job or our spouse is
highly undesirable. But it is not "terrible." We can still
go on. Life is still worth living. And so on. This is substituting
a sandwich full of nails for a sandwich full of paste.
We are still left with too many sandwiches and way too much
paste. His Holiness the Dali Lama is the head of the Tibetan
Buddhist Tradition of Gelukpa Buddhism. In these teachings,
it is stated that one did not lose either a job or our spouse.
These are just labels! And they are cognitive distortions
within themselves. In the former case, we were informed that
we would no longer be coming to a place and receiving money.
In the latter case, someone stopped breathing. By taking
out our Label Maker and creating new and apparently more
'rational' labels, we are saying that words are real. And
this is the entire problem with the neurotic and the psychotic (not including the fact that someone labeled them a "neurotic" or a "psychotic"). The cure is seeing through all labels.
Then we can relax and feel friendly in a harshly defined
universe. There is not one interpretation that we can make
of anything that can't be shown as invalid when we view
it from another angle. So why interpret phenemona as anything unless it serves a utilitarian purpose?

Rating:
Summary: Superb Introductory Book to Cognitive Therapy
Review: This is truly a superb introductory book to cognitive therapy. I would highly recommend novice counselors, as well as those experienced counselors looking to expand their clinical skills. Judith Beck does an excellent job of walking the reader through the cognitive therapy process. Overall, the book is easy to follow and offers readers practical strategies, as well as the philosophical background to cognitive therapy. I believe this book is already on the shelves of many therapists and educators.

Rating:
Summary: Basic Training Manual
Review: When I first heard Judith Beck had written this book I expected she was simply riding her fathers coat tails. Her father Aaron Beck is often considered the father of cognitive therapy. Judy has established herself however as an important contributer to this field in her own right. This book is now required reading for begining cognitive therapists going to the Beck Institute for training. It covers all the important points in doing cognitive therapy with a range of disorders and is the logical place to start for the neophyte therapist and a good place to return for the experienced therapist to clarify what needs to be done if you are going to call it cognitive therapy.