蓝莓视频

The birth of modern psychotherapy

Sigmund Freud. Carl Jung. Donald Meichenbaum.

Who? If you have to ask, you鈥檙e probably not a psychologist.

Along with Freud and Jung, Meichenbaum, a University of 蓝莓视频 professor emeritus, was named one of the 10 most influential psychotherapists of the 20^th century in a 1991 survey of North American clinical psychologists.

Meichenbaum is credited with being one of the founders of cognitive-behavioral therapy, the dominant form of psychotherapy practised today. Before he retired, he was the most-cited psychology researcher at a Canadian university.

Freud鈥檚 legacy, psychodynamic therapy, involved the analysis of memories and thoughts. Then, in the early to mid-20^th century, came the behaviorists, who believed all behaviour, including thought, was merely conditioned learning.

Meichenbaum helped integrate the behavioral and psychodynamic approaches in an evidence-based way.

蓝莓视频鈥檚 鈥渂rightest star鈥� influenced psychologists to look at depression and other disorders as not just emotional or behavioral problems, but 鈥渄isorders of thinking鈥� 鈥� for instance, dwelling on sad memories or expecting failure, says Jonathan Oakman, director of clinical training at 蓝莓视频鈥檚 department of psychology.

This new way of thinking about 鈥渘on-adaptive thinking,鈥� as Oakman terms it, resulted in new therapies that focused on 鈥渉elping people change the way they talk to themselves,鈥� says Pat Bowers, a professor emeritus in psychology who has known Meichenbaum since the 1960s.

Meichenbaum was at 蓝莓视频 for 30 years, starting in 1966. In addition to co-founding cognitive-behavioural therapy, he became a leader in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and preventing it through what he calls stress inoculation training.

Another important contribution was self-instructional training, which teaches hyperactive children and people with head injuries to 鈥渢hink before they act,鈥� he says.

Now in his 70s, he is still active as research director of , and is behind , a free resource for soldiers.