ABSTRACT
At the very heart of the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) model is the view that the human mind is not a passive receptacle of environmental and biological influences and sensations, but rather that individuals are actively involved in constructing their reality'. The conceptual cornerstone of CBT derives from ancient Stoic philosophers such as Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius and their views on mental control. Modern CBT doesn't argue that a person's emotional problems are simply created in their head but that the impact of adverse events can be greatly exacerbated by the person's unhelpful thoughts and beliefs that interfere with their ability to cope constructively with such events. Developing an alternative viewpoint underscores the CBT principle that there is always more than one way of seeing things, no matter how unpleasant these things are.
