Archive for October, 2006

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Drum roll… Beck Institute finally has a new Conference Room!

Friday, October 27th, 2006

Well, we set up our new conference room last week just in time for our Extramural Training Workshop. We knocked out two walls and ordered new furniture… The day before our 40 participants arrived, the new tables and chairs came in – very comfortable chairs, we’re pleased to say. Here are a few pictures of the conference room setup underway… Thanks especially to Naomi Dank, Ph.D., our Associate Director, for making it happen!

 

 

 

Left: Debbie tackles the television monitor. Turned out we were able to run the DVDs and videos through the powerpoint projector, though.

Right: Judy tests the projector — she’s always glad when the AV equipment works.

 

Left: There’s a group effort to adjust the projector height… Norman helps out.

Right: Naomi is in seventh heaven – the chairs have finally arrived.

 

 

And there they are.

Posted in Beck Institute, Photos | No Comments »

Research Results: CBT Reduces Fatigue among Cancer Survivors

Tuesday, October 24th, 2006

 A new study just published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) can help cancer survivors who are experiencing severe fatigue and functional impairment. If you know someone who has been cured of his or her cancer, but has unexplained fatigue, you may want to check out this study.

112 cancer survivors with severe fatigue were randomly assigned to one of two groups — half of them received CBT, and the other half was assigned to a waitlist for therapy (i.e. they did not receive therapy during the six month timeframe of the study). The group that received CBT treatment showed significantly reduced fatigue and functional impairment as compared to the control group.

Posted in Cancer, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Research Results | No Comments »

Choosing a CT Therapist?

Monday, October 23rd, 2006

Cognitive Therapy (CT) has been demonstrated to be effective for many disorders in hundreds of clinical trials — it’s one of the most widely tested forms of psychotherapy.  As CT becomes increasingly favored among consumers and insurance companies, many therapists are now ”saying” that they practice CT, even if they have not actually received sufficient training. Often, they may simply be incorporating some elements of CT into their practice, without fully delivering actual Cognitive Therapy treatment. 

In 1998, Aaron T. Beck, M.D. (who developed Cognitive Therapy in the 1960s) and other leaders in the field established a non-profit certifying organization, the Academy of Cognitive Therapy (ACT), to serve consumers, thoroughly evaluate  therapists, and certify those who are truly qualified Cognitive Therapists. If you’re looking for a good Cognitive Therapist, we recommend that you search for an ACT-Certified Cognitive Therapist.

Posted in Academy of CT, Cognitive Therapists, Cognitive Therapy | 2 Comments »

CT Worldwide: NY State Launches “CT for Suicidal Patients” Training Program

Wednesday, October 18th, 2006

Last March, the NY Farm Net (a support organization for NY farmers), in partnership with the state’s Office of Mental Health, launched a statewide Cognitive Therapy for Suicidal Patients training program for mental health professionals. Why is this interesting? Here in the states, we don’t often see statewide or nationwide efforts to train therapists in evidence-based approaches like Cognitive Therapy (developed by Aaron T. Beck, M.D in the 1960s). So we think it’s great that a community based non-profit like Farm Net took the initiative to offer initial CT training to mental health professionals and disseminate the program statewide in partnership with NY State Offices. The day-long training program in CT for Suicidal Patients was offered at over 40 psychiatric and non-psychiatric training sites statewide, with follow-up question and answer sessions via listserv.

To find out more about how CT can help prevent suicide, see last year’s New York Times article, “Talk Therapy Succeeds in Reducing Suicide Risk.”

Posted in CT Worldwide, Cognitive Therapy, New York, U.S. | No Comments »

October Extramural Workshop… just a few days away!

Tuesday, October 17th, 2006

We’re getting ready for our Extramural Workshop here at the Beck Institute… just had a wall knocked out of our lobby so that trainees can enter the new conference room directly from our offices. We’re expecting about forty trainees from around the world for the Workshop (it’s part of our overall Extramural Training Program for one-on-one Cognitive Therapy supervision). Looking forward to seeing current trainees and meeting new participants! We’ll keep you posted, and plan to add Workshop photos soon…

Posted in Training | No Comments »

CT Worldwide

Tuesday, October 17th, 2006

We’re going to start highlighting interesting Cognitive Therapy developments in specific U.S. states and countries around the world. You’ll see these highlights here as “CT Worldwide” followed by the location and a description of the new development. If you know of a geographic development that you’d like to see covered here, please let us know.

Posted in CT Worldwide, Cognitive Therapy | No Comments »

Books: The Beck Diet Solution is coming soon…

Monday, October 16th, 2006

What does Cognitive Therapy (CT) have to do with dieting? That’s exactly what Judith S. Beck talks about in her new book: The Beck Diet Solution: train your brain to think like a thin person. CT has been effectively applied to a broad range of disorders, including eating disorders, and the same techniques that help people learn to think more realistically, feel better, and change their behavior for other problems can also help them to lose weight. Dr. Beck has written a book for consumers with a truly new approach to dieting. It’s a six-week program that provides step-by-step instructions for using cognitive (thinking) and behavioral skills to lose weight and keep it off permanently. Look for The Beck Diet Solution in April of 2007.

Posted in Books, Cognitive Therapy, Dieting, Judith S. Beck | 1 Comment »

Research Results: CBT RESTORES OVULATION IN 80% OF INFERTILE WOMEN

Wednesday, October 11th, 2006

Every week, we receive various email alerts about new research studies in Cognitive Therapy and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. We’re going to start posting links to these research studies here on CT Today. Some research studies may be of interest only to professionals, but we think some of them may interest the layperson as well. Like this one, which shows that Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) can actually help infertile women start ovulating again. When we post research studies, you’ll see them here as “Research Results,” followed by a sentence about what the study showed.

CBT can restore ovulation in infertile women describes a randomized, controlled trial in which 16 women who had not menstruated in six months were randomly assigned to one of two groups — half of them received CBT treatment for 20 weeks, and the other half were simply observed (no treatment was given to them). Amazingly, 80% of the women who received CBT treatment started ovulating again, compared to only 25% of the group under observation. The Emory University Professor who conducted the study, Professor Sarah L. Berga, M.D., attributes the results to CBT’s ability to reduce hormonal stressors, which had apparently been preventing ovulation. CBT may provide an alternative to costly medical procedures and medication for some infertile women. Results of this study were announced at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague, Czech Republic on Tuesday 20 June 2006.

Posted in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Ovulation, Research Results | No Comments »

CT Today – What’s in a Name?

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

We went back and forth several times about what to call this blog, and finally realized that we already had the perfect name — Cognitive Therapy Today is the name of the Beck Institute Newsletter, and has been since 1996. Why not use the same name for the blog, as it would also be providing news? News of a more informal nature… From time to time you’ll see announcements for new issues of our  Fall  and Spring CT Today Newsletter, designed for professionals. If you’re interested in receiving an email copy of the newsletter, please subscribe. And of course, we hope you’ll find that this CT Today blog really does keep you up to date with current CT developments around the world…

Posted in BI Blog Info | No Comments »

Lienhard Award

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

On October 9, 2006, Aaron T. Beck, M.D. received the Gustav O. Lienhard Award from the Institute of Medicine for “outstanding national achievement in improving personal health care services in the United States.” The Lienhard was awarded to Dr. Beck for “developing the theory and practice of cognitive therapy, which has been used to treat nearly 5 million patients in the United States and millions more worldwide.” Congratulations Dr. Beck!

Posted in Aaron T. Beck, Cognitive Therapy | 1 Comment »

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