Aaron T. Beck
Encyclopedia
Aaron Temkin Beck is an American psychiatrist
Cognitive therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present...

 and a professor emeritus in the department of psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...

 at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

. He is widely regarded as the father of cognitive therapy
Cognitive therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present...

, and his pioneering theories are widely used in the treatment of clinical depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

. Beck also developed self-report measures
Self-report inventory
A self-report inventory is a type of psychological test in which a person fills out a survey or questionnaire with or without the help of an investigator...

 of depression and anxiety including Beck Depression Inventory
Beck Depression Inventory
The Beck Depression Inventory , created by Dr. Aaron T. Beck, is a 21-question multiple-choice self-report inventory, one of the most widely used instruments for measuring the severity of depression...

 (BDI), Beck Hopelessness Scale
Beck Hopelessness Scale
The Beck Hopelessness Scale is a 20-item self-report inventory developed by Dr. Aaron T. Beck that was designed to measure three major aspects of hopelessness: feelings about the future, loss of motivation, and expectations...

, Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSS), Beck Anxiety Inventory
Beck Anxiety Inventory
The Beck Anxiety Inventory , created by Dr. Aaron T. Beck and other colleagues, is a 21-question multiple-choice self-report inventory that is used for measuring the severity of an individual's anxiety.-BAI:...

 (BAI), and Beck Youth Inventories. He is the President Emeritus of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, a non-profit organization located in suburban Philadelphia, is an international Cognitive Behavior Therapy training and resource center. It was founded in 1994 by Aaron T. Beck, M.D. and his daughter Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. Beck Institute offers...

 and the Honorary President of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, which certifies qualified cognitive therapists.

His work at the University of Pennsylvania inspired Dr. Martin Seligman
Martin Seligman
Martin E. P. "Marty" Seligman is an American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books. His theory of "learned helplessness" is widely respected among scientific psychologists....

 to refine Seligman's own cognitive techniques and exercises and later work on learned helplessness
Learned helplessness
Learned helplessness, as a technical term in animal psychology and related human psychology, means a condition of a human person or an animal in which it has learned to behave helplessly, even when the opportunity is restored for it to help itself by avoiding an unpleasant or harmful circumstance...

.

Biography

Aaron Beck was born in Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

, the youngest child of four siblings. Beck's daughter, Judith S. Beck
Judith S. Beck
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., is an American psychologist who is best known for her work in cognitive therapy. Her father is Aaron T...

, is also a researcher in the field of cognitive therapy and President of the Beck Institute. He is married with four children, Roy, Judy, Dan, and Alice. He has eight grandchildren.

Education

Beck attended Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

, graduating magna cum laude
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...

in 1942. At Brown he was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society
Phi Beta Kappa Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...

, was an associate editor of The Brown Daily Herald
The Brown Daily Herald
The Brown Daily Herald is the student newspaper of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. It is financially and editorially independent of the University, and publishes Monday through Friday during the academic year with additional issues during commencement, summer and orientation...

, and received the Francis Wayland Scholarship, William Gaston Prize for Excellence in Oratory, and Philo Sherman Bennett Essay Award. Beck attended Yale Medical School, graduating with an M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

 in 1946.

Career

Aaron T. Beck, M.D., is the President Emeritus of the non-profit Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research, and University Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of the Psychopathology Research Unit (PRU), which is the parent organization of the Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Suicide
Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Suicide
The Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Suicide is a unit of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. It was founded to further therapies for the prevention of suicide attempts in high risk populations and conduct related research.- External links :*...

.

Beck developed cognitive therapy in the early 1960s as a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania. He had previously studied and practiced psychoanalysis. A researcher and scientist at heart, Beck designed and carried out a number of experiments to test psychoanalytic concepts of depression. Fully expecting research would validate these fundamental precepts, he was surprised to find the opposite. This research led him to begin to look for other ways of conceptualizing depression. Working with depressed patients, he found that they experienced streams of negative thoughts that seemed to pop up spontaneously. He termed these cognitions “automatic thoughts,” and discovered that their content fell into three categories: negative ideas about themselves, the world and the future. Beck (1997) explains people accept these thoughts as valid and don't take time to reflect. He began helping patients identify and evaluate these thoughts and found that by doing so, patients were able to think more realistically, which led them to feel better emotionally and behave more functionally. Beck (1997) discovered key idea's in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, he explains different disorders were associated with different types of distorted thinking. Distorted thinking has a negative effect on our behaviour no matter what type of disorder (Beck, 1997). Beck (1997) explains that successful interventions will educate a person to understand and become aware of their distorted thinking and how to challenge its effects.
Beck (1997) discovered that frequent negative automatic thoughts reveal a persons core beliefs. He explains core beliefs are formed over lifelong experiences; we “feel” these beliefs to be true.

Since that time, Beck and his colleagues worldwide have researched the efficacy of this form of psychotherapy in treating a wide variety of disorders including depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, drug abuse, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and many medical conditions with psychological components. Some of his most recent work has focused on cognitive therapy for schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder and for patients who are repeat suicide attempters. Beck has published over 540 articles and authored or co-authored twenty-two books.He has been named one of the “Americans in history who shaped the face of American Psychiatry” and one of the “five most influential psychotherapists of all time” by The American Psychologist (July 1989). Dr. Beck is the Honorary President of the non-profit Academy of Cognitive Therapy, an organization of over 500 cognitive therapists worldwide. As part of its mission, the Academy supports continuing education and research in cognitive therapy, provides a valuable resource in cognitive therapy for professionals and the public at large, and actively works towards the identification and certification of clinicians skilled in cognitive therapy. Among his many activities, Beck is currently involved in a number of research studies at Penn, and conducts biweekly Case Conferences at Beck Institute for area psychiatric residents, graduate students, and mental health professionals. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

 in 2007.

Notable events

The American Psychoanalytic Institute rejected Beck's membership application, "on the grounds that his mere desire to conduct scientific studies signaled that he’d been improperly analyzed", a decision that still makes him angry.

Beck is noted for his research in psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...

, psychopathology
Psychopathology
Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, mental distress, and abnormal/maladaptive behavior. The term is most commonly used within psychiatry where pathology refers to disease processes...

, suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

, and psychometrics
Psychometrics
Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits, and educational measurement...

, which led to his creation of cognitive therapy
Cognitive therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present...

, for which he received the 2006 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, and the Beck Depression Inventory
Beck Depression Inventory
The Beck Depression Inventory , created by Dr. Aaron T. Beck, is a 21-question multiple-choice self-report inventory, one of the most widely used instruments for measuring the severity of depression...

 (BDI), one of the most widely used instruments for measuring depression severity. Beck is also known for his creation of the Beck Hopelessness Scale
Beck Hopelessness Scale
The Beck Hopelessness Scale is a 20-item self-report inventory developed by Dr. Aaron T. Beck that was designed to measure three major aspects of hopelessness: feelings about the future, loss of motivation, and expectations...

 and the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and has founded the Beck Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in which his daughter, Dr. Judith Beck, works. Cognitive therapy has also been applied with success to individuals with anxiety disorders, schizophrenia http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/000991.html, and many other disorders. In recent years, cognitive therapy has been disseminated outside academic settings, including throughout the United Kingdom, and in a program developed by Dr. Beck and the City of Philadelphia.http://www.phila.gov/dbhmrs/initiatives/EBP/academic_partnerships/index.html

Awards

  • The 7th Annual Heinz Award
    Heinz Award
    The Heinz Award is an award currently given annually to ten honorees by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards recognize outstanding individuals for their contributions in the five areas of: Arts and Humanities, the Environment, the Human Condition, Public Policy, and Technology, the Economy...

     in the Human Condition
  • The 2006 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
  • The 2004 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award
    Grawemeyer Award
    The Grawemeyer Awards are five awards given annually by the University of Louisville in the state of Kentucky, United States. The prizes are presented to individuals in the fields of education, ideas improving world order, music composition, religion, and psychology...

     for Psychology

See also

  • Albert Ellis
  • David D. Burns
    David D. Burns
    David D. Burns is an adjunct professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the author of the best-selling book Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. Burns popularized cognitive behavioral therapy when his book became a...

  • Cognitive therapy
    Cognitive therapy
    Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present...


Published books

  • Beck, A.T.. The Diagnosis and Management of Depression. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1967. - ISBN 0-8122-7674-4
  • Beck, A.T., Depression: Causes and Treatment. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972. - ISBN 978-0-8122-7652-7
  • Beck, A.T., Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. Intl Universities Press, 1975. - ISBN 0-8236-0990-1
  • Beck, A.T., Rush, A.J., Shaw, B.F., Emery, G., Cognitive Therapy of Depression. The Guilford Press, 1979. - ISBN 0-89862-000-7
  • Scott, J., Williams, J.M., Beck, A.T., Cognitive Therapy in Clinical Practice: An Illustrative Casebook. Routledge, 1989. - ISBN 0-415-00518-3
  • Alford, B.A., Beck, A.T., The Integrative Power of Cognitive Therapy. The Guilford Press, 1998. - ISBN 1-57230-396-4
  • Beck, A.T., Prisoners of Hate: The Cognitive Basis of Anger, Hostility, and Violence. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. - ISBN 0-06-019377-8
  • Clark, D.A., Beck, A.T., Scientific Foundations of Cognitive Theory and Therapy of Depression. New York, Wiley, 1999. - ISBN 0-471-18970-7
  • Beck, A.T., Freeman, A., and Davis, D.D., Cognitive Therapy of Personality Disorders. The Guilford Press, 2003. - ISBN 1-57230-856-7
  • Wright, J.H., Thase, M.E., Beck, A.T., Ludgate, J.W., Cognitive Therapy with Inpatients: Developing A Cognitive Milieu. The Guilford Press, 2003. - ISBN 0-89862-890-3
  • Winterowd, C., Beck, A.T., Gruener, D., Cognitive Therapy With Chronic Pain Patients. Springer Publishing Company, 2003. - ISBN 0-8261-4595-7
  • Beck, A.T., Emery, G., and Greenberg, R.L., Anxiety Disorders And Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective. Basic Books, 2005. - ISBN 0-465-00587-X
  • Beck, A.T., Rector, N.A., Stolar, N., & Grant, P., "Schizophrenia: Cognitive Theory, Research, and Therapy". Guilford Press, 2008. - ISBN 978-1-60623-018-3
  • Clark, D. A., & Beck, A. T., Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders: Science and practice. Guilford Press, 2010. - ISBN 978-1606234341

External links

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