FEW WOULD argue with the proposition that behavior is determined by cognition. surely what we do is to a great extent a function of what we believe and how we understand things. From this it follows that changes in cognition will lead to changes in behavior. If I now realize that someone who harmed me did so unintentionally, then I may cease hating him and seeking revenge. Psychotherapy is directed at changing the patient's understanding about himself and others. By definition one might say, it presupposes that the goal is to change behavior by changing cognition.1 Consequently, I don't think that it is this widely accepted idea which Ortof is asserting in her interesting paper.

While change in the specific content of the patient's ideas about