ABSTRACT
EXTRACTS FROM A DAY IN THE LlFE OF A COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPIST: Raymond is a 48-year-old man with a 20-year history of depression. At the beginning of each session Raymond removes his therapy folder from his rucksack. The folder contains the summarized contents of the cognitive therapy sessions with the therapist. Everything is in order, the top sheet being the homework negotiated at the previous session. Raymond, looking ashamed, sighs and says, “I’ve not written anything down. I’ve not read anything we talked about. I’m so useless. You must be so fed up with me. I don’t know why you bother; this is all a waste of time. I wish I could feel differently; then I’d be able to do it.” You may not be surprised to know that Raymond attends every session and is reasonably active during therapy. But, as he often observes, “Everything we talk about here makes sense, but as soon as I leave it is wiped out and I sink into a black hole where everything is pointless, and as a result, I just sit and do nothing, and my mind is full of everything that has ever gone wrong.”
