ABSTRACT
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) does not claim that dysfunctional thinking alone causes emotional distress; rather it forms a part of this distress. Psychological disturbance is multiply determined by, among other things, genetic, environmental, familial, cultural, personality and developmental factors. The interplay between these factors helps to form a person's idiosyncratic core beliefs, assumptions and rules about themselves, others and the world. These predisposing factors interact with relevant current events or stressors to trigger emotional disturbance. The primary pathology or dysfunction during a depression or an anxiety disorder is in the cognitive apparatus. However, that is quite different from the notion that cognition causes these syndromes a notion that is just as illogical as an assertion that hallucinations cause schizophrenia. The 'cognitive apparatus' would be the activation of negative core beliefs which filter information about the person's experiences in a biased and distorted way, serving to reinforce and perpetuate these core beliefs and intensify the emotional distress associated with them.
