Behavior therapy roots[edit]
The modern roots of CBT can be traced to the development of
behavior therapyin the early 20th century, the development of cognitive therapy in the 1960s, and the subsequent merging of the two. Groundbreaking work of behaviorism began with
Watson's and Rayner's studies of
conditioningin 1920.
[111]Behaviorally-centered therapeutic approaches appeared as early as 1924
[112]with
Mary Cover Jones' work dedicated to the unlearning of fears in children.
[113]These were the antecedents of the development of
Joseph Wolpe's behavioral therapy in the 1950s.
[111]It was the work of Wolpe and Watson, which was based on
Ivan Pavlov's work on learning and conditioning, that influenced
Hans Eysenck and
Arnold Lazarusto develop new behavioral therapy techniques based on
classical conditioning.
[111][114]One of Eysenck's colleagues,
Glenn Wilsonshowed that classical fear conditioning in humans could be controlled by verbally induced cognitive expectations,
[115]thus opening a field of research that supports the rationale of cognitive behaviorial therapy.
During the 1950s and 1960s, behavioral therapy became widely utilized by researchers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, who were inspired by the
behavioristlearning theory of
Ivan Pavlov,
John B. Watson, and
Clark L. Hull.
[112]In Britain,
Joseph Wolpe, who applied the findings of animal experiments to his method of
systematic desensitization,
[111]applied behavioral research to the treatment of neurotic disorders. Wolpe's therapeutic efforts were precursors to today's fear reduction techniques.
[112]British psychologist
Hans Eysenck presented behavior therapy as a constructive alternative.
[112][116]
At the same time of Eysenck's work,
B.F. Skinnerand his associates were beginning to have an impact with their work on
operant conditioning.
[111][114]Skinner's work was referred to as
radical behaviorismand avoided anything related to cognition.
[111]However,
Julian Rotter, in 1954, and
Albert Bandura, in 1969, contributed behavior therapy with their respective work on
social learning theory, by demonstrating the effects of cognition on learning and behavior modification.
[111][114]
The emphasis on behavioral factors constituted the "first wave" of CBT.
[117]
Cognitive therapy roots[edit]
One of the first therapists to address cognition in psychotherapy was
Alfred Adler with his notion of
basic mistakesand how they contributed to creation of unhealthy or useless behavioral and life goals.
[118]Adler's work influenced the work of
Albert Ellis,
[118]who developed one of the earliest cognitive-based psychotherapies, known today as
Rational emotive behavior therapy, or REBT.
[119]