Aaron T. Beck (1921-2021)

Memorializes Aaron T. Beck (1921-2021). Beck was the founder of cognitive therapy (CT), the father figure of the cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) movement, creator of the Beck Depression Inventory, champion of the manualized treatment protocol that kept psychotherapy in the game in the era of drugs and randomized clinical trials, and inspiration behind the U.K.'s National Health Service Improving Access to Psychological Therapies program. Beck trained in psychiatry at the height of the influence of psychoanalysis. Beck's psychiatric training was exclusively of the liberal-analytic bent. At Cushing Veterans Administration Hospital (Boston), he trained under Felix Deutsch and Jacob Finesinger, both of whom advocated brief psychoanalytically informed therapies. In 1994, he and his daughter Judith Beck founded the Beck Institute, a CBT training center. In his later years, he studied hatred (Prisoners of Hate) and schizophrenia. Beck garnered many honors including a public meeting with the Dalai Lama (2005) and the Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research (2006). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).