We are pleased to invite professionals from all streams of psychotherapy to a conversation with Dr. Judith Beck, one of the most important figures in the world of CBT and one of the greatest influencers in the field of psychotherapy.

Dr. Beck is the lead developer of the Beck Institute’s online core courses, which are taught by mental health professionals in 130 countries. These comprehensive core courses were developed in 2015 and have changed the landscape of mental health training worldwide.

Dr. Beck's father, Aaron T. Beck, founder of CBT, did not try to convince his daughter to follow in his footsteps. However, as she became a teenager, he tested some of his ideas while practicing them with his daughter, who was enthusiastic and encouraged her to continue developing them.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, which originated in Beck therapy, is based on a cognitive conceptualization that includes the core beliefs and behavioral styles of the various disorders. The therapist uses a variety of techniques to create cognitive change, that is, a change in the patient's thinking and belief system with the aim of bringing about emotional and behavioral transformation over time.

One of Beck's areas of expertise is her ability to explain the moment-to-moment therapeutic decisions that cognitive therapists make during a therapy session. What may seem like a spontaneous and intuitive decision-making process is based on a deep and ongoing understanding of patients, their diagnosis, and their experience of the therapy session.

Throughout her writing, Beck describes the typical problems that prevent therapist and patient from achieving change. Among the obstacles she cites: misdiagnosis, misunderstanding of the case, incorrect use of conceptualization, disruptions to the therapeutic alliance, an incomplete list of behavioral goals, or homework that is not appropriate for the patient.

In the conversation, we will talk with Judith Beck about the work of the cognitive-behavioral therapist today: What can help therapists overcome obstacles? How to streamline the therapeutic process? How do CBT therapists treat personality disorders? How do CBT therapists deal with patients who insist that they cannot change or that therapy cannot help them?

We will also discuss what she thinks about the world of psychotherapy today, the third wave of CBT, and a possible combination of CBT and psychoanalysis.

Judith S. Beck , PhD, is the president of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (BI), a nonprofit organization that provides cutting-edge cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) training and certification to individuals and organizations, offers online courses on a variety of CBT topics, conducts research, and serves as a leading global resource on CBT. Dr. Beck led the development of the Beck Institute’s CBT Certification Program, which has been developed and tested in over 2,000 clinical trials. She is also a clinical professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where she teaches CBT to psychiatric residents. Dr. Beck divides her time between administration, supervision and teaching, clinical work, curriculum development, research, and writing. She has been a consultant for several National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) studies, developed widely adopted assessment scales for children and adolescents, and made hundreds of national and international presentations on various applications of CBT.

Dr. Beck has written extensively about a cognitive behavioral approach to weight loss. She works with patients at the Beck Institute clinic in Philadelphia.