AARON BECK

Aaron Beck

Aaron Beck

Introduction

Aaron Beck is probably best known for pioneering the use of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) — that commonly used modern psychotherapy technique known the world over. He revolutionized psychotherapy in general, by turning toward science — and replicable data — to validate the efficacy of his new therapeutic techniques he pioneered in CBT. He had to, because before Beck came along, studying why psychotherapy worked was done generally only through narrative case reports in the scientific literature(Winterowd Beck Gruener 2003). Often interesting and sometimes entertaining, but they completely lacked scientific data outside of subjective observations by the professional.

Biography

Aaron T. Beck was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on July 18, 1921, the third son of Russian Jewish immigrants. His father was a printer by trade who seriously abided by his socialist ideals. His rather overbearing mother was known for her extreme mood swings. Beck had two siblings who died before he was born. Beck's childhood typified middle-class America, complete with his involvement in Boy Scouts and athletics(Scott Williams Beck 1989).

From this mediocrity rose one of America's groundbreaking psychotherapists. Beck developed what is known as cognitive therapy, which is used for cases ranging from depression and panic attacks to addictions, eating disorders, and even the most severe psychiatric illnesses. Beck's childhood strongly influenced his approach to therapy. A life-threatening staph infection at the age of eight changed his life. At this point, Beck was transformed from a very active young man to a quiet one who preferred reading to playing football(Winterowd Beck Gruener 2003). As a child, he developed a fear of hospitals, blood, and even the scent of ether, which made him feel as if he would faint. Eventually, he overcame those fears rationally. "I learned not to be concerned about the faint feeling, but just to keep active," he later recounted. Beck graduated from Brown University in 1942. In 1946 he received his Ph.D. in psychiatry from Yale University. During his residency in neurology he began to investigate psychotherapy and cognition. Beck served as Assistant Chief of Neuropsychology at Valley Forge Hospital in Pennsylvania during the Korean War (1950-53). Even with his doubts about Freud and psychoanalysis, Beck attended the Philadelphia Institute of Psychoanalysis, graduating in 1958. Not long into his work with patients using psychoanalysis, Beck began to alter his approach. Beck joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in 1954, where he began to search for empirical evidence supporting Freud's theories. In his research, Beck attempted to discover a correlation between depression and masochism. Beck and his colleagues failed to find this correlation. Within two years his cognitive approach to therapy had taken shape(Wright Thase Beck Ludgate 2003).

Theory

Aaron Beck is the creator of one of the world's most widely used and influential psychological treatments, cognitive behavioural therapy.

He revolutionized psychotherapy in general, by turning toward science — and replicable data — to validate the efficacy of his new therapeutic techniques he pioneered in CBT. He had to, because before Beck came along, studying why ...