ABSTRACT
Cognitive therapy is implemented on the basis of case formulations that aim to represent the predisposing, triggering, and maintenance factors involved in individual disorders. Such formulations have typically included a range of diverse components such as a problem list, dysfunctional beliefs, triggers, hypotheses concerning mechanisms of maintenance, and a treatment plan (e.g., Persons 1989). The case formulation should provide the therapist with a guide for what to do in therapy, and consequently the most useful approaches will be those that reveal the factors involved in the aetiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders. This chapter presents such an approach to case formulation based on empirically supported cognitive models.
