ABSTRACT
Weighing the evidence for and against a particular automatic thought is probably the most common method of cognitive restructuring thought and belief. Newman states that the level of evidence therapists ideally strive for is conformational data. However, some clients will settle for observational or conjectural data but the therapist needs to stress the limitations of such data and the potential problems of employing. The need to weigh and test evidence in CBT rests on the assumption that if our thinking is more accurately aligned with events in the external world. Dobson and Dobson call this perspective 'the realist assumption'. CBT also explores clients' inner experiences, how they reach their views about themselves and the world, the meanings they attach to events. Therefore, the cognitive behavioural therapist is constantly moving between the external and internal worlds of the client and trying to uncover the private meaning about a public event which is causing her so much distress.
