In the 1960’s Dr. Aaron Beck developed his approach called Cognitive Therapy which became known for its effective treatment of depression. According to the principles of cognitive therapy the way in which people interpret their experiences determines how they feel and act. We all have deeper beliefs and assumptions (Life scripts), cognitive structures based on which we organise our experience and behaviours. Our cognitive structures synthesise how we see ourselves, the world and other people. Our beliefs can get triggered by life events and can cause psychological distress. For example when we get depressed, hopelessness and self – blame cognitions predominate. As humans we have high level cognitive processes which also embrace inaccurate thoughts which become impaired in psychopathology and can lead to psychiatric disorders. Some of the Cognitive distortions include: Personalisation, Overgeneralization, Dichotomous thinking, Mind Reading and Negative labelling.
