Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The dominant evidence-based talk therapy — change your thoughts to change how you feel and act.
Origin
Built in the 1960s by American psychiatrist Aaron Beck, who noticed his depressed patients had a steady undercurrent of distorted automatic thoughts ('I'm worthless,' 'nothing will work'). His insight: feelings follow thoughts, and thoughts can be examined and rewritten. Albert Ellis was developing a similar approach in parallel. Together their methods displaced Freudian analysis as the default treatment in the English-speaking world, partly because CBT is short (8–20 sessions), structured, and produces measurable outcomes in randomized trials. It is the most-studied psychotherapy in history and the default first-line treatment for depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, and insomnia.
Modern usage
Known by its initials. 'I'm doing CBT' is the standard answer to 'what kind of therapy?' Concepts that escaped the clinic — [[cognitive-distortions]], [[reframing]], [[catastrophizing]] — all come from Beck's framework. Critics argue it treats symptoms rather than causes and that the trials overstate its effect; defenders point out it is the only therapy that has been seriously tested.
In the wild
Six sessions of CBT did more for my panic attacks than a year of journaling.— common usage
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