Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

“Critically discuss the contribution of CBT to

                                                Counselling/Psychotherapeutic practice.”







Word Count: 2,041









Amy McDonald









“Critically discuss the contribution of CBT to Counselling /Psychotherapeutic practice.”




      Human suffering has preoccupied thinkers for centuries, from philosophers and scientists to artists and writers. Over the last 100 years a medical approach has dominated, in which human suffering is seen as a “mental health problem”; and so a ‘helping profession’-Counselling and psychotherapy was developed to work with people who were troubled by difficult emotional experiences (Barker, Vossler & Landridge, 2010).                           “Neurosis is a high-class word for whining”, (Albert Ellis, p. , 1958). Albert Ellis (1958) believed irrational ways of thinking brought about most psychological conditions and that to get better, patients needed to tackle these skewed ways of thinking, correcting them and developing new ones. He believed that psychotherapy should be short-term, goal oriented and efficient and so he developed a technique called Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). REBT is one of the foundations for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) today.

      CBT is a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to teach individuals new skills for solving problems concerning dysfunctional behaviours, cognitions and emotions through a systematic goal-oriented procedure (Barker et al., 2010). The core idea of CBT is that individuals’ behaviour and emotional reactions are strongly influenced by their thoughts, beliefs and interpretations about themselves and situations. Therefore, changing what you do (behaviour) is often powerful enough to change these emotions and thoughts. The development of CBT has made many contributions to counselling and psychotherapeutic practice. This essay aims to examine these contributions and discuss the...