Changing Biased Interpretations in CBT: A Brief History and Overview

Abstract

One of the major targets of cognitive-behavioral interventions is to identify and modify interpretational processing biases. This chapter provides a brief summary of the historical background of the development of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), including, e.g., how and why the “C” came to fuse with the “B”. The key principles of CBT-based interventions are then outlined, including the role of collaborative empiricism, guided discovery, and the focus on the “here and now.” Finally, this chapter provides an overview of techniques targeting biased interpretational processes in the therapeutic context, including cognitive restructuring, behavioral experiments, exposure, mental imagery-based techniques, behavioral activation and activity scheduling, cognitive training, and third wave approaches.