CBT has two halves; name both
In CBT, therapist and client identify the unhelpful thoughts keeping a problem going, test them against the evidence, and change the behaviour that follows. The cognitive half catches the negative automatic thought and replaces it with a realistic one. The behavioural half sets agreed homework between sessions, so the thinking is tested in life. CBT is also collaborative, time-limited, present-focused and skills-based; just talking to a therapist names neither half.
CBT for depression: catch, test, re-activate
CBT treats depression as a loop between thoughts, feelings and behaviour, breaking in at both ends. Cognitive half: catch the negative automatic thoughts with a thought diary (Beck: negative views of self, world and future); challenge them by weighing the evidence; replace with a balanced thought. Ellis framed the same challenge as ABC. Behavioural half: schedule activities the person has stopped, so each completed one is evidence against the thought.
CBT for addiction: triggers and beliefs
CBT for addiction uses the same two halves on a different loop. Cognitive half: work out the beliefs held about the substance, test them against the client's record, and catch the permission-giving thought before a lapse. Behavioural half: map the triggers and rehearse a different response, removing the cue where possible; relapse prevention treats a lapse as information, not failure. Contrast: depression gets activity up, addiction keeps a behaviour down.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Motivation named but not explained
The best-documented failure: asked for a weakness of CBT, most scored 0-1, naming motivation, left bare. It is creditworthy if explained. Label: the client might not be motivated. Explained: CBT needs homework, yet low motivation and energy are symptoms of depression, so the problem treated undermines the treatment and raises drop-out. Use this matters because to justify.
Nov 2020 P1 Q10b; June 2024 P1 Q11b; Q15b
CBT with no named cognitive mechanism
Vague answers name no mechanism: the therapist talks to them and helps them feel better fits any therapy. Get two CBT-specific terms in: negative automatic thought (caught and written down), challenge against the evidence, homework (thought diary, scheduled activities). Then attach it: for depression, thought, low mood, less activity, more evidence for the thought.
June 2023 P1 Q12a
Cognitive theory explains; CBT treats
Two words apart, two statements. Cognitive theory (3.1.5) is an explanation — why someone became depressed (negative triad, irrational beliefs). CBT (3.1.7) is a treatment — what a therapist does: challenge thoughts and change behaviour via homework. A question on treatment is not answered by evaluating the explanation, or vice versa. Read which is named.
Measuring effectiveness, not arguing it works
Asked how the effectiveness of CBT can be measured, candidates argue instead whether it works — a different question. Measuring effectiveness means naming what was recorded and compared: scores on the same questionnaire before and after, or the proportion who no longer meet the diagnostic criteria at follow-up. Arguing whether it helps is evaluation, not measurement.
June 2024 P1 Q15a
A weakness is not an improvement
When a question asks for an improvement, a weakness on its own is not an answer. State what should be done differently and why it would help this client — for example a therapist phone-check between sessions to support the homework a depressed client struggles with. Naming the flaw is the start; the improvement is the change plus its justification. Match the command word.
June 2019 P2 Q3c; June 2024 P1 Q5b; Q18b
Name both halves — one half is not CBT
A description giving only the cognitive work (challenging thoughts) or only the behavioural work (homework) has described half the therapy. CBT is cognitive and behavioural, and a 2-mark describe wants two unique points, so name one from each: catch and test a negative automatic thought, and set an agreed task between sessions. Two rewordings of the talking part count as one.
June 2023 P2 Q22
CBT is not just positive thinking
Two beliefs that damage the marks. CBT does not swap a negative thought for a positive one — it replaces an unrealistic thought with a realistic, evidence-based one. A biological basis does not stop CBT helping: it works on what keeps the problem going, so services often offer it with medication. Also, CBT is not passive — the work is the homework — nor a guaranteed cure.
June 2023 P1 Q12a; June 2024 P1 Q15a
No AO3 without AO2 — a name is not AO2
AO3 cannot be awarded without AO2 present, so evaluation with no link to the client scores nothing. Not application: the name dropped in, repeating the stem, lifting a line. Application: his no point playing badly thought goes in the diary; going once is the task. AO2 first.
The 9-mark Assess on CBT: balance, conclude
The 9-mark Assess splits AO1/AO2/AO3; the 7-9 band needs AO3 and balance. Plan: give CBT, both halves, delivered here (AO1); tie details to what the therapy does (AO2); weigh strengths and weaknesses (AO3); conclude. High-value: compare CBT with drugs. Prose, not bullets.
Apply each strength/weakness to this client
A general evaluation is worth less than one tied to the person. It needs effort between sessions is general; adding that he sleeps until afternoon, so homework is the part he can least do, applies it. Show with a detail that each point fits this client.
Describe the difference needs a connective
Describe the difference is worth two marks, but two definitions side by side score one. The second needs a connective such as whereas: CBT changes how a person thinks and what they do, whereas drug treatment changes brain chemistry directly.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) — a talking therapy in which therapist and client identify the unhelpful thoughts keeping a problem going, test them against the evidence, and change the behaviour that follows from them.
Negative automatic thought — an unhelpful thought that arrives on its own, without being chosen, in response to a situation.
Thought diary — a record the client keeps between sessions of the situation, the thought that arrived and the feeling that followed.
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