ABSTRACT
This misconception assumes that Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) takes the purely cognitive view that distorted thinking alone creates a person's emotional distress irrespective of his life circumstances; therefore, the client is to blame for his problems for 'thinking incorrectly'. Not so. CBT is directed at correcting psychological and situational problems which contributing to the patient's distresses. The therapist investigates both worlds of the client, internal and external. A ludicrous view of CBT would be that the client is upset solely by her negative thinking about living with an alcoholic and that the debilitating effects of such a relationship have no effect on her psychological state. In real-life CBT, the therapist would acknowledge the client's dilemma and collaboratively conduct a realistic appraisal. In essence, cognitive behaviour therapists want to understand, in their clients, how objectively unpleasant situations made worse by the clients' distorted and unrealistic appraisals which then impair their ability to cope adaptive with these difficulties.
