'Father of cognitive therapy' Aaron Beck dies at 100
November 2, 2021
Aaron Beck's work revolutionized the diagnosis and treatment of depression and other psychological disorders. His daughter said he died peacefully in his home in Philadelphia.
American psychiatrist Aaron Temkin Beck, widely regarded as the father of cognitive therapy, died on Monday at the age of 100.
Beck died at his home in Philadelphia, according to a statement from his daughter, Judith, the president of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy.
"My father dedicated his life to the development and testing of treatments to improve the lives of countless people throughout the world facing health and mental health challenges," Beck said. "He truly transformed the field of mental health."
Beck's work revolutionized the diagnosis and treatment of depression and other psychological disorders.
He died peacefully in his sleep, the Beck Institute said. Beck developed the field of cognitive therapy, a clinical form of psychotherapy, at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1960s. The institute trains patients to identify and dismiss irrational negative thoughts about themselves, the world and the future.
Different approach from Freud's psychoanalysis
Contrary to the psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud, which emphasized the role of the subconscious and memories, cognitive therapy is concerned with the present.
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Throughout his early years as a psychiatrist, Beck noticed that his patients frequently expressed negative thoughts such as "I am incapable of," which he called "automatic thoughts."
Cognitive therapy says that turning around a self-disparaging inner monologue is key to alleviating many psychological problems, often in a dozen sessions or fewer.
Beck discovered that patients who learn to recognize the faulty logic of negative automatic thoughts such as "I'll always be a failure" or "no one likes me" could learn to overcome their fears and think more rationally, diminishing anxiety and improving mood.
Cognitive therapy sessions follow a strict format, which always includes setting goals and completing homework assignments.
As Netflix announces an upcoming series starring a fictional version of Sigmund Freud, here's a look back at how his ideas and his persona were depicted in film and popular culture.
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A fictional crime solver
In the upcoming Netflix thriller series "Freud," the iconic creator of psychoanalysis teams up with a psychic and a cop to track a serial killer. Set in late 19th-century Vienna, a fictional young Freud uses his groundbreaking theories to solve the case. Today, psychoanalytic criminology is a method used to study criminal behavior, drawing from Freud's ideas.
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A fan of twisted criminal cases
In 1916, Freud published "Criminality from a Sense of Guilt," in which he claimed that many criminals drew on unconscious guilt to commit their crimes, somehow hoping they would end up punished. According to a memoir by one of his famous patients, the Russian Sergei Pankejeff — best known by his pseudonym, Wolf Man — Freud had very attentively read Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
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Alongside Sherlock Holmes
A fictional Sigmund Freud was already invited to play alongside the world's most famous detective. In the 1974 novel "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution," a pastiche of a Sherlock Holmes adventure that was also turned into a film in 1976, Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin, left) helps Holmes (Robert Duvall) shake off his cocaine addiction. The real Freud was actually an early user and proponent of the drug.
A non-fiction book from 1993 inspired Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg's historical film from 2011, "A Dangerous Method." Viggo Mortensen (right) starred as the founder of psychoanalysis, while Keira Knightley portrayed Sabina Spielrein, who was initially one of Carl Jung's patients, and later became a pioneering female psychoanalyst.
A previous biopic on Freud for the silver screen came with the US drama "Freud: The Secret Passion" (1962). Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the original script, but after a fight with director John Huston, he didn't want his name in the credits. Montgomery Clift portrayed Freud's character, while Susannah York played the role of a patient with neurotic symptoms. It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.
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Escaping from the Nazis
Sigmund Freud's books were prominently burned and destroyed by the Nazis when they took power in 1933. Despite the threat, he didn't leave Austria and was still in the country when it was annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938. When he finally fled to London in June that year, Salvador Dali, Stefan Zweig, Virginia Woolf and H. G. Wells were among the artists who visited him in support.
From Woody Allen's characters to cartoons in the New Yorker, a depiction of a psychiatrist's therapy session wouldn't be complete without a couch — even though they're no longer commonly used in real life. A gift from his patient Madane Benvenisti, Freud's couch is still on display in his last home in London, where the analyst died in 1939, at the age of 83.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images/Kiedrowski, R.
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Some skeptical of CBT's benefits
The therapy has its skeptics. Some psychologists called cognitive therapy superficial and little more than a morale booster, but it has become required training for psychiatry residents and the most widely practiced therapy method around the world.
Beck was born in July 1921 in Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated from Ivy League schools Brown University and Yale University, and wrote or co-wrote around 20 books.
In 1994, he and Judith Beck founded the Beck Institute, which has since trained more than 25,000 mental health professionals in 130 countries. More than 2,000 studies have demonstrated the efficacy of CBT, the institute said.
