Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Application and Integration into Clinical Practice (6 CE)

Course Level: Intermediate

Course By: Steven Sultanoff, PhD

Steven M. Sultanoff, Ph.D. is a psychologist, university professor (Pepperdine University), consultant, and professional trainer.  He has worked as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist over 35 years including attending training programs with Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck, and Christine Padesky and serving 12 years on the staff at the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Newport Beach, CA.

Over the past 25+ years he has taught CBT at the graduate level and offered over 300 live continuing education seminars for MFT’s, psychologists, LPCC’s, and social workers.  Many of his programs are now available online including Cognitive Therapy, Clinical Supervision, Therapeutic Uses of Humor, and Emotional Intelligence. All of his workshops include core material as well as innovative concepts that expand traditional thinking.

Dr. Sultanoff is an expert on emotions (both distressing--depression, anxiety, anger, resentment, guilt, etc. and uplifting--joy, excitement, delight, etc.) and has linked emotions to specific underlying cognitive patterns.  This linkage has advanced the practice of cognitive therapy by assisting therapists to connect emotion to cognition or cognition to emotion thus facilitating the cognitive restructuring process.

In addition to his CBT expertise Dr. Sultanoff is an internationally recognized expert in therapeutic humor and has received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Therapeutic Humor from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor.

Dr. Sultanoff is frequently quoted in the national media (Time, Forbes, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Parents, USA Today, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, etc.) and has appeared on PBS, FOX, Lifetime, STARZ, and is featured on an episode of “What’s Your Ailment” with Maria Bamford streaming on “Topic.”

Course Description:

Cognitive therapy can be a practical, vibrant, and interactive approach to psychotherapy that combines the technology and art of therapy.  While one of the most common and effective therapies of the 21^st century, it is frequently misunderstood. In this video of a live presentation, you will learn the theory, practice, and philosophy of both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Rational Emotive Therapy (RET). You will learn the types of positive and negative thinking that humans develop and how to differentiate faulty thinking from accurate thinking. You will also learn how to intervene to assist clients to change negative thinking and will learn simple skill interventions, as well as, pitfalls and mistakes often made by therapists applying cognitive therapy to their interventions with clients.

Emotions play a major role in CBT (and RET) and are often not adequately addressed. Therefore, you will learn how to keep emotions present during sessions and how to identify the unique underlying cognitive patterns associated with each distressing emotion (e.g. anxiety, depression, anger, guilt, and resentment).

The presentation will cover classic interventions such as the ABC Model, thought records, tailoring the process to the client, the downward arrow technique, and scaling, as well as, innovative and original interventions such as the use of humor and the empathic flip. The program will address therapist underlying personal bias and the autopilot types of therapist responses that illustrate that bias. You will learn to differentiate empowering and depowering language and how CBT interventions help shift clients to increase their empowering language.

Course Outline:

• Introduction
• Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Rational Emotive Therapy (RET)
• Theory and Practice of CBT and RET
• Linking Emotions and Thought Patterns
• Language of CBT and RET
• Applying cognitive therapy to clinical supervision (video demonstration)
• Strategies to manage and relieve anxiety
  Skills of CBT:
  • Thought records, ABC Model, Downward Arrow, Scaling, Humor, and Empathic Flip
• Belief systems of clients and therapists
• Interventions to change belief systems
• Highlights and Wrap-Up

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

1. Describe the philosophy of CBT and RET
2. Differentiate healthy from unhealthy thought patterns
3. Link distressing emotions to their underlying thought patterns
4. Contract the language of faulty thinking from the language of accurate and healthy thinking
5. Describe CBT techniques such as the downward arrow, scaling, and the empathic flip
6. Identify personal bias that might influence the process of therapy

Course Format:

Course materials can be downloaded or read online. To receive a certificate of completion, you must complete an online multiple-choice post-test with a score of 75% or better and complete an online course evaluation. 

Approvals: