Specialising in Child, Adolescent & Family Issues

Cognitive Behaviour Therapists

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

We are members of Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy (AACBT).

CBT has evolved through a number of significant research influences currently conceptualised as 3 "waves" of behavioural therapies in the last century.

The "first wave" in 1950's and 1960's was based on the repeated pairings of a naturally occurring response (eg salivation) and it was shown that the response could become associated with a specific stimuli (eg the sound of a bell). This is called classical conditioning. Further research showed that classical conditioning could be extended to human beings and their emotional responses such as fear could become conditioned by specific events and situations.

During this time a technique called systematic desensitisation was developed to assist with clinical problems. By pairing fear-inducing stimuli with a second stimulus that produces an opposite but helpful response (such as relaxation), the fear response can be inhibited. This procedure is widely used in clinical practice and involves graded exposure to a hierarchy of feared situations whilst remaining relaxed.

The "second wave" in the 1970's and 1980's highlighted the significant role of environmental influences in behaviour. This became known as operant conditioning and focused on the relationship between antecedents (that which occurs before the behaviour), consequences ( that which occurs after the behaviour), and the behaviour of concern. If a certain behaviour increases when reliably followed by positive consequences then that behaviour is said to have been reinforced or strengthened.

Then it was recognised that much behaviour is influenced by what and how we think (cognitions), and the link between emotions and cognitions (how and what we think) was proposed. This then lead to the recognition that emotion and behaviour arise from the way in which events are interpreted.

During this time the link between the role of unhelpful thinking in the development and maintenance of emotional distress was made, and a clinical model was developed to assist people by focussing on their irrational beliefs and negative style of thinking.

Many evidence based cognitive behaviour therapies (CBT) for particular problems have now been developed and all share a number of core features:

• CBT is based on a model of active collaboration (participation)
• CBT is brief and time limited
• CBT is objective and structured
• CBT focuses on current problems
• CBT encourages self-discovery and experimentation
• CBT advocates a skills-based learning approach

There is a "third wave" of behavioural therapy currently happening which has major emphasis on acceptance and mindfulness, in addition to the more traditional behavioural therapies. ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) is one of them [...more on ACT]