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J Contemp Psychother (2014) 44:18 DOI 10.1007/s10879-013-9239-7
ORIGINAL PAPER
Positive CBT: From Reducing Distress to Building Success
F. P. Bannink
Published online: 26 June 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Recent decades have witnessed the development of competency-based, collaborative approaches to working with clients. This article reveals how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) becomes Positive CBT, with a shift in the focus of therapy from what is wrong with clients to what is right with them, and from what is not working to what is. The concept of Positive CBT, aimed at improving the well-being of clients and their therapists, draws on research and applications from Positive Psychology and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. A FBA of exceptions to the problem and the upward arrow instead of the downward arrow technique are two of the many practical applications of Positive CBT, described in this article. Further research is necessary due to its recent development.
Keywords CBT Positive CBT Positive Psychology
Solution focused brief therapy Strengths Resilience
Introduction
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has evolved to address a broad array of client presentations and an impressive body of evidence attests to its efcacy. Yet outcomes, and particularly longer-term outcomes leave a substantial margin for improvement. What will it take to help more clients benet more substantively from therapy? What more can therapists do to support their clients develop longer-term resilience? How can therapists use the least
demanding interventions on their clients? How can therapists increase clients self-efcacy and self-esteem? What will it take to make CBT better and faster and therefore more cost-effective? And last but not least: how can CBT be more kind to its therapists? Positive CBT (Bannink 2012) emerged from the desire to nd a new way forward in the application of CBT. It aims to provide answers to the above questions, however, because of the recent development of Positive CBT, research is not yet available.
CBT has been strongly inuenced by the medical model of diagnosis and treatment. The structure of problem-solvingdetermining the nature of the problem and then interveninginuences the content of interaction between therapists and clients: they focus on pathology and on what is wrong with the client. Assessments focus on problems, limitations and deciencies and mention few or no client strengths...