TRAINING ISSUES IN COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

Because of changes in the health-care system that tend to emphasize sh ortterm treatment, the number of graduate students and psychotherapist s interested in learning cognitive-behavioral techniques is increasing . The present study examines how pre-existing biases toward cognitive- behavioral therapy may affect acquisition of knowledge, attitude chang e, and use of cognitive-behavioral techniques over a nine-month practi cum. Forty graduate students were classified by their theoretical orie ntation: cognitive-behavioral, not cognitive-behavioral, and undecided . Results indicated that all students gained significant amounts of kn owledge, had greater positive attitudes about cognitive-behavioral the rapy, and used more cognitive and behavioral techniques at the end of the practicum than at the beginning. These findings suggest that pre-e xisting theoretical orientations may not significantly affect learning of cognitive-behavioral techniques. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.