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The cognitive orientation to psychopathology is not novel nor is it unique to one particular system of psychotherapy. Adler's (1927), Horney's (1950), and more recently Arieti's (1978) psychodynamic models have each emphasized that a person's evaluations and perceptions play an important role in the development of his or her psychopathology and have posited that a reorganization of the patient's thoughts is a necessary condition for recovery. It has been argued that even Wolpe's behavioral systematic desensitization is essentially a cognitive procedure (Bandura and Adams, 1977; Beck, 1970; Loveless and Brody, 1974).
The theoretical basis and the explanatory paradigms, however, distinguish the systems of therapy which are primarily cognitive in nature from those interventions which merely acknowledge or emphasize the salience of thinking. Ellis's rational—emotive (Ellis and Grieger, 1977) and Beck's (1967, 1976) cognitive therapy are the best known current applications of cognitive paradigms in the conceptualization and treatment of emotional disorders. Both of them reflect the influence of George Kelly's (1955) theory of personality which views man as an agent who actively construes and organizes his or her experiences and thus shapes his or her life.
The present paper will discuss and expand on Beck's cognitive therapy for depression which, according to Wilcoxon, Schraeder, and Nelson (1976) has been most extensively described. The empirical basis of cognitive therapy and its specific application in the treatment of depression has been enumerated in several publications