Product Description

One of the founders of cognitive therapy writes a clear, comprehensive guide to the basis of emotional disturbance and highlights such important concepts as learning the meaning of hidden messages, listening to automatic thoughts, the role of sadness, anger and anxiety, understanding and overcoming phobias and depression, and applying the cognitive system of therapy to specific problems.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48625 in Books
• Published on: 1979
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780452009288
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author
Aaron T. Beck is widely seen as the father of cognitive therapy. Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, he is the founder of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research. He lives in Philadelphia.

Customer Reviews

If you're considering psychotherapy, begin here!
A basic introduction to cognitive therapy by its most prominent founder. After 21 years, still the most-cited book on the subject -- and the one I most often recommend to new patients. Cognitive therapy (including its extended form, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT) has an unmatched track record for getting results. In this book Dr. Aaron Beck explains clearly and persuasively just how and why it works. For additional book recommendations and other basic information on CBT, you're welcome to visit my homepage at http://www.cognitivetherapy.com

An Accomplished Piece - but not really for lay readers
Dr Beck's book is particularly comprehensive and advances a strong argument for the establishment of Cognitive Therapy - it is, of course, accepted now as a valuable tool in the fight against the various anxiety/emotional disorders.

The book itself is directed towards the academic or professional reader and, although it is useful for the interested lay reader, I found the book to have excessive "psychobabble". On numerous occasions I found myself saying that a much simpler language would have sufficed. Furthermore there is a hint of patronisation running through the text - again indicating that the book is not really for lay readers.

Notwithstanding, the book is more than 20 years old yet is still a landmark in its field. Recommended for the student but only for the (already) well-informed lay reader.

Good Stuff!
Having heard about "cognitive therapy" and how successful it can be, I recently decided to order this book from Amazon in hope of learning more about this widely recognized and demonstrated psychotherapeutic model and approach. I am really glad that I did, as I can honestly say, sans all exaggeration, that thoughtfully perusing this book from the late 1970s has probably helped me more than reading/studying any book on psychology or "self help" has helped me in many years. While contemplating some of the logical insights this book contains, I found myself, almost unintentionally, rather quickly identifying and correcting a few of my own erroneous "automatic thoughts" and thereby adroitly overcoming a major acute irrational neurotic/phobic fear that, quite frankly, had personally haunted me for decades, apparently as a result of some repeated direct exposure to major trauma when I was younger and subsequent hysteric "somatic imaging".

Otherwise, I am pleased to report that this book is quite understandable, even though it is in no way "dummied down". While the narrative contains a few technical terms and occasional "big words", I think that, overall, this book is quite accessible, informative, and even "common sensical" for an intelligent/educated layperson. The reader does not have to be a trained mental health professional to benefit significantly from reading this book or to comprehend the information that it contains.