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Embracing the Contribution of Both Behavioral and Cognitive Theories to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Maximizing the Richness

Clinical Social Work Journal volume 45, pages 39–48 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most popular intervention models used by social workers and other mental health professionals. CBT stems from two very distinct and unique theoretical paradigms with rich histories. Yet, in practice, the full potential of the model is not realized as behavioral theories are applied as secondary to cognitive theories. In this paper, we present a brief overview of the histories of both cognitive and behavioral theories, a summary of their explanatory and intervention theories, and describe how they have been merged to date to create an intervention model. We argue that if CBT truly acknowledged the contributions of behavioral theory, the social work perspective of the person in environment would be more closely represented by balancing the internal mental process of cognitive theory with the determining contingencies of the external environment central to behavioral theory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Catholic School of Social Service, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA

    Barbara P. Early & Melissa D. Grady

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  1. Barbara P. Early
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  2. Melissa D. Grady
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Correspondence to Melissa D. Grady.

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Barbara Early and Melissa Grady declares that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Early, B.P., Grady, M.D. Embracing the Contribution of Both Behavioral and Cognitive Theories to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Maximizing the Richness. Clin Soc Work J 45, 39–48 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-016-0590-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-016-0590-5

Keywords

  • Cognitive and behavioral theories
  • CBT
  • Clinical theory
  • Clinical practice