cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that combines basic principles from cognitive psychology and behaviorism. It aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions by challenging and adjusting convictions and assumptions, and learn better adapted behavior by trying and training new behaviours.

While CBT has philosophical precursors in Stoicism, it developed in three waves in the 20th century. The first wave consisted of the development of behaviorism in the 1920s and behavioral therapy in the 1950s and 1960s. The second wave focused on the importance of cognitions in the therapeutic process, resulting in the development of cognitive therapy by psychoanalyst Aaron Beck in the 1950s and the establishment of classical CBT, when cognitive and behavioral approaches were combined. The third wave took place in the 1980s and 1990s, when principles originating from Buddhism, especially mindfulness and acceptance, significantly contributed to the development of various new forms of CBT. Over time, cognitive behavior therapy became an umbrella-term for all cognitive-based psychotherapies.