Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Second Edition: Basics and Beyond

Everything!Dr. Beck has made a fantastic contribution to the human services field. Every counselor, therapist and student of the field should have a copy of this book. And, read it several times.Many organizations and professionals will tell you, "We do CBT here" as they point to a CBT map image hung on the wall of classrooms. Really? Are they really doing CBT?Do they have a copy of this book? No!Almost any "C" student can answer a multiple-choice question that identifies CBT. But will they be able to explain and "do CBT" for and with their students and clients? Probably not.Have you read this book? Here's your chance.

Judith Beck's book is like a playbook for psychotherapy. Imagine a football team where the coaches never drew up plays and the quarterback never established any expectations about what would happen after the ball was snapped. What is the common factor in sports teams that don't develop a cohesive strategy and don't collaborate and work together on common goals? They lose. They fail to achieve their objectives. They're left sad and burned out watching others win championships.The same holds true for psychotherapy. Offering support, building a relationship or "establishing rapport" is only one piece of an effective game plan. Psychotherapists who line up for their sessions unprepared and without a plan or coherrent case conceptualization are doing a serious disservice to those they are suppose to serve. They are setting themselves up to be in situations where they hope to connect on Hail Mary passes or complete next to impossible 50+ yard field goals. Ultimately, their sessions may fail to rise to "greatness."Good sports teams not only focus on the fundamentals, they execute on their gameplans as opposed to simply talking a good game. A good therapist should also have a "game plan."You can now get 12 Continuing Education credits from PsychContinuingEd com for reading the book Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Second Edition: Basics and Beyond(book sold separately here at Amazon). The quiz is based on the latest version published in July, 2011.This is not a boring, overly theoretical workout like some books tend to be. This is a "psychotherapy playbook" packed with useful techniques and guidance on how to structure the entire course of Cognitive Behavior Therapy.[Judith Beck uses the term "Cognitive Behavior Therapy" as opposed to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Her father, Aaron Beck, began by using "Cognitive Therapy." Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) now tends to refer to a collection of similar approaches to CT]. Learn more about CE credits for this book at PsychContinuingEd com

This is a book that should be read by every member of the psychological community. It should be mandatory reading for every LMFT, LCSW, and PhD student who wants to practice therapy in the 21th Century. It does not make any difference how long you have been practicing. You will benefit from this update and review of the basic concepts. The interactive client method is very important to the success of this book. You may not agree with Beck's approach, but your skills will be greatly sharpened by your counter arguments to her methods and approaches. You can easily incorporate your experience and approach within the structure she uses. A little more on the many alternatives and expansions using CBT would have been useful, however. But, there are many other books that cover the multitude of newer applications to this basic theory to fill that gap. If you are teaching a graduate level course to students who will be actually practicing counseling then you really should use this as a text or standard reference to help the student understand the reality of what CBT is in the market place and the world of today. Necessary--very necessary. It is well rounded and totally debunks the "deep psychology" criticism that CBT is "just too simplistic." Beck's framework offers room for any theory or approach that is looking for some kind of evidence that what they do actually works and is not just a wondering into someone's dreams that are only understood by the master who is being paid for their psychic powers. In short, Beck is not Blavatsky.

This book is the one you have been looking for my friend. As a graduate student in Counseling Psychology I felt confused by all these theories of psychotherapy. I didn’t know how to start self learning because I wanted to learn everything at once. Now I’m near my practicum so I realize I just need a good model to work with. Since most of my professors are CBT trained, I gave it a shot by reading this book. It’s perfect. It gives you an evidence based model that actually helps patients/clients even if you’re not a master therapist yet. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship like the Rogerian model, it follows research and it’s easy to follow as a novice. With adecuate supervision I think I will provide a good service for any client that walks in.P. S. I tried reading books about Gestalt, Narrative Therapy, Solution Focused therapy, REBT, ACT, DBT etc... the only one that compares to this one is the REBT practitioners manual by the Albert Ellis institute and a Solution focused therapy book by Heather Fiske.

I love how detailed this book is while it goes over the basics of CBT. It's a really easy read. I wish there was one for all the DSM diagnoses. It really goes into details of specific techniques like the downward arrow, rational-emotional role play, evidence testing etc, and there's a lot of scripts of real session to illustrate them. I also love that with in the book, there are exerts about "what if" the client does or doesn't do this or that, which is really helpful for beginners to address all the different responses that clients can have to the techniques in treatment.