Principles over Process: Fifty Years a Cognitive Therapist

Abstract

The most important lesson that I have learned in my half century as a therapist (and therapy researcher) is that principles matter more than processes. I had the great good fortune to arrive in Philadelphia at a time when Beck and colleagues were just beginning to test the efficacy of cognitive therapy for depression and what I learned was that helping clients (and myself) get the better of depression involved two main principles: (1) when in doubt do whatever you would have done if you were not depressed (behavioral); and (2) do not believe everything you think - check it out (cognitive). A third major principle is that the most powerful way to test an existing belief is to use one’s own behaviors to test its accuracy, which usually means doing whatever you least want to do in that situation (opposite action). I find that focusing on these principles is wholly liberating in the therapy process; I am free to be myself, to follow any line of inquiry, to respond to any request and to comport myself much as I would with any friend outside of therapy. This focus on principles has been good for my clients and even better for me.