Aaron T Beck (July 18, 1921 – November 1, 2021) - influential psychiatrist who is regarded as the father of cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

Designed many self report scales, including Beck’s Depression Inventory.

The key to many psychological difficulties, Dr. Beck has found in 40 years of research and clinical work, lies not deep in the unconscious, but in ”thinking problems” that are much closer to conscious awareness.

automatic thoughts

Patients in cognitive therapy are encouraged to test their perceptions of themselves and others, as if they were scientists testing hypotheses.

His work at the University of Pennsylvania inspired Martin Seligman to refine his own cognitive techniques and later work on learned helplessness

flowchart
A--->B--->C--->A
A(The self)
B(The world or environment)
C(The future)

Beck’s cognitive triad


was inspired by Albert Ellis (founder of REBT) inspired Martin Seligman(who proposed and defined learned helplessness worked with Maria Kovacs to make a depression scale for children

was inspired by stoicism


Bio

Year of birth: (born::1921)
Year of death: (died::2021)
Nationality: (nationality::American)
Family: Wife - Phyllis W. Beck
Period: (timecontext::20th century, early 21st century)

Works

Important Works: (impworks::Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders, Depression: Causes and Treatment, Cognitive Therapy of Depression)
Contributions: Pioneer of cognitive therapy, developed cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Key Ideas: (KeyIdeas::Cognitive Therapy, Cognitive Triad, Cognitive Distortions)
Known For: (KnownFor::Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Beck Depression Inventory)

Influenced By: (influencedby::Albert Ellis, Sigmund Freud, George Kelly)