The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) program has been rated by the CEBC in the area of: Depression Treatment (Adult).

• Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being
• Types of Maltreatment: Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Physical Neglect, Emotional Abuse, Exposure to Domestic Violence
• Target Population: Chronically depressed adults.

CBASP has been developed solely for the treatment of the chronic depressive adults. Most patients present with maltreatment developmental histories that thwart normal cognitive-emotive maturational growth in the social-interpersonal domain. Hence, patients begin treatment functioning in a primitive (preoperational) manner meaning their cognitive-emotional patterns are diffuse, prelogical, ego-centric, global, and they talk to therapists in a monologic manner. Chronic depression is essentially a chronic mood disorder and does not fit the typical Beckian description of episodic major depression as a “thinking disorder.” The disorder is driven by an interpersonal fear (mood) and is characterized by generalized interpersonal avoidance behavior stemming from earlier developmental maltreatment. At the outset of psychotherapy, the patient is interpersonally detached and withdrawn and is perceptually disconnected from the actual consequences of their own behavior. The general fiction they live out is “it doesn’t matter what I do, nothing will change.” Three techniques are administered to demonstrate to patients that the way they behave with others has discernible interpersonal consequences (Situational Analysis); to help patients discriminate the psychotherapist from toxic Significant Others who have hurt them (Interpersonal Discrimination Exercise); and to modify in-session maladaptive behavior that precludes the therapist from administering treatment (Contingent Personal Responsivity). The CBASP therapist role is interpersonally active and administered in a disciplined personal involved manner.