[Cognitive therapy. Methods and applications].

Abstract

Cognitive therapy is a fairly new form of psychotherapy. The article compares this form of therapy with the more common psychodynamic oriented psychotherapy on the one side and behavioural therapy on the other side. The authors define the most common terms in cognitive therapy (basic beliefs and automatic thoughts), and describe the content of the therapy. Finally they outline the areas where cognitive therapy has been proven most beneficial (treatment of depression, anxiety states, chronic pain, psychosomatics and increase in patient compliance), and discuss the future use of cognitive therapy in Norway.