Born on July 18 1921, Aaron Temkin Beck was raised in Providence,
Rhode Island. His mother, Elizabeth Temkin, married his father, Harry
Beck, in 1909. The youngest of five children, Aaron Beck notes that his
mother was quite depressed prior to his birth due to the loss of two of
her children. Beck was born two years after his only sister died of
influenza. In
Aaron T. Beck, it is noted that he believed
himself to be a replacement child for his sister. Beck says he takes
joy in the idea that, even at a young age, he was able to cure his
mother’s depression. Aaron T. Beck is globally recognized as the father of cognitive
therapy and one of the world's leading researchers in
psychopathology. He has been credited with shaping the face of American
psychiatry, and
The American Psychologist has called him "one of the five most influential psychotherapists of all time." Dr. Beck graduated from Brown University in 1942 and Yale Medical School
in 1946. Originally trained as a psychoanalyst, his explorations into
psychoanalytic concepts of depression while working as a psychiatrist at
the University of Pennsylvania led to his development of cognitive therapy. Dr. Beck has developed a number of scales to measure psychopathology
which are used broadly throughout the world.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy- On the basis of this theory, a therapy was devised that could
effectively treat a variety of disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy
is beneficial for treating several psychological, psychiatric and
medical disorders. Patients with psychological disorders like
uncontrollable anger and compulsive gambling can be treated with this
therapy. Psychiatric problems like depression, substance abuse,
personality disorders, etc., can also be dealt with it. Though most
health problems are treated using medications, some of them having a
psychological component like obesity, pre-menstrual syndrome, chronic
pain etc., are also addressed using this therapy. This article covers
the use of this therapy for one of the most common psychiatric problems,
which is
depression.
