Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Bandura's work in observational learning led to the development of therapies based both on learning and on cognition. Albert Ellis created rational-emotive therapy (RET) in which he assumed that people learn to react to the irrational beliefs learned over their lifetimes. Ellis believed that cognitive learning came before emotional behavior, and so he set out to change clients' learned irrational thoughts. He did so by developing a method that confronts clients and makes them see the irrationality of their thoughts.

Like Ellis, Beck believes that clients' problems come from their cognitive distortions. Beck's therapy works best to combat depression. PThe goal of cognitive therapy is replacement of maladaptive schemata, or, at least, a greater degree of control over existing schemas.

Stress-inoculation occurs when clients are taught to deal with stress inducing situations in new and more adaptive ways. For example, students may be taught to view an assignment in manageable blocks rather than as a massive project. Social problem solving is when clients are taught to see problems of living as extensions of problems in general. Then, they are taught problem-solving techniques and shown how to apply them to their problems.

Two other successful cognitive behavior therapies are stress-inoculation and social problem solving. In the former, clients are taught specific techniques to manage stress. In the latter, clients are shown that their problems in life are simply a subcategory of problems in general. They are then taught problem solving techniques which, hopefully, generalize to their life problems.

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