As Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the dominant force in today’s therapy market place, it is important to unknit what it is. This – of course – can be difficult to do when signifiers such as ‘evidence-based’ and ‘cure’ are banded around as if they were unproblematic constructs.
Jay Watts has written and lectured on how CBT does not exist except as a political convenience.
Del Loewenthal has co-edited the book Against and for CBT: Towards a Constructive Dialogue? with Richard House; and with Gillian Proctor Why Not CBT?
Here are some videos from conferences challenging CBT which may be of interest.
There are some fine practitioners working under the mantle of CBT, of course. Many of these share CPN’s beliefs that clients do not have the time and space to talk freely in therapy today, and feel increasingly impotent in services which privilege meeting targets above ethical practice.
The Critical Psychotherapy Network 