ABSTRACT
Do cognitive therapists practise cognitive therapy on themselves when they encounter difficulties, both inside and outside therapy? Not always. Our experience of training and supervising cognitive therapists shows us that some individuals have either no idea of how to apply CT to themselves or no wish to – therapy is something that they do to ‘them’ (i.e. clients) and is not performed on themselves. This attitude is unfortunate as it can lead these therapists to practise CT without a genuine conviction in it, not appreciate the difficulties their clients have in implementing CT skills in their everyday lives (and likely to call them ‘resistant’ when progress is stalled), and do what is necessary to be a competent practitioner (further training, attending workshops, regular supervision) but lack the experiential element in their CT practice. Furthermore, when these therapists opt for personal therapy they are likely to choose a different approach such as psychodynamic therapy: ‘I know all about cognitive therapy. I do it every day. I want to try something new and different for myself.’ We would make three observations about this response:
1 It is a rash person who claims to ‘know all about cognitive therapy’ (maybe it is time for him to retire). We doubt that Aaron Beck, who developed CT, would make this claim as he is continually setting himself new challenges in cognitive therapy (Weishaar, 2002).
