In 1967, Ulric Neisser coined the term “cognitive psychology” when proclaiming, “The term “cognition” refers to all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. It is concerned with these processes even when they operate in the absence of relevant stimulation, as in images and hallucinations… Given such a sweeping definition, it is apparent that cognition is involved in everything a human being might possibly do; that every psychological phenomenon is a cognitive phenomenon. But although cognitive psychology is concerned with all human activity rather than some fraction of it, the concern is from a particular point of view”. Through the practice of cognitive psychology, cognitive therapy was born. Each patient’s emotional and behavioral problem lie within a preconceived notion about perception, thinking, reasoning, and judgment. The idea behind, cognitive therapy is to alter those assumptions and attitudes, in order to properly direct the patient to a solution. Below, is a small list of the cognitive therapies offered by, psychologists and psychiatrist of today.

1. Cognitive Therapy: When an individual is suffering from, lets say, depression, cognitive therapy believes that is due to distortions in their perspectives (i.e. all or none thinking, over generalization, selective perception. Initially, the therapist will attempt to highlight these distortions, and then the patient is encouraged to change the attitudes.

2. Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET): The practitioners of this practice, believe that most problems, originate in irrational thought. Perfectionist and pessimists usually suffer from issues related to irrational thinking; for instance, if a perfectionist believes in perfection, and then encounters a small failure; “the world is over”. It is better to establish a reasonable standard emotionally, so the individual can live a balanced life. This form of cognitive therapy, is an opportunity for the patient to learn of his current distortions and successfully eliminate them.

3. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT): This form of therapy is the most prevalent of practitioners in this field. The practice is cemented in the belief that using both cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy is more of a sufficient solution to success. There are very few therapist that solely believe in one style of therapy for success, anymore.

Friday 4 December 2009