ABSTRACT
This chapter appears to some therapists from other orientations that Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) offers only symptom relief for clients' problems instead of embarking on the required lengthy investigations of the root causes of these problems which are usually traced to childhood experiences. The result of this 'superficial approach', only a sticking plaster put on these problems and, so, they will inevitably recur. In CBT, current thoughts and beliefs as cognitive 'root causes'. The chapter discusses a client's problems understood by examining three cognitive levels: surface or situation-specific negative automatic thoughts (NATs), cross-situational rules and assumptions and unconditional core beliefs. The deeper the cognitive levels, the more difficult it gains access to and change. The degree of complexity introduced clinical circumstances of each case, not by a predetermined view that every problem requires a depth-centred approach. Within CBT there is disagreement about the use and need for schema-focused approaches for clients with uncomplicated clinical problems which complicated by such approaches.
