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“My Mother Made Me Do It”: An Interview with Don Meichenbaum on the Origins of CBT (Plus: Tips for Surviving COVID-19)

May 26, 2020 By scottdm 6 Comments

Scott & DonImagine having the distinction of being voted one of the top 10 most influential psychotherapists of the 20th Century.

Psychologist Don Meichenbaum is that person.  In his spare time, together with Arron Beck and Marvin Goldfried, he created the most popular and researched method of psychotherapy in use today: cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT).

I got to know Don years ago as we shared a car ride, traveling to and from a training venue while teaching separate, week-long workshops in New England.  We laughed.  We talked.  We debated.  Fiercely.

We’ve been friends and colleagues ever since, recreating our car ride discussions in front of large audiences of therapists at each Evolution of Psychotherapy conference since 2005.

As Don approaches his 80th birthday, we look back on the development of CBT — what he thinks he got right and how his thinking has evolved over time.  Most trace the roots of CBT to various theorists in the field — Freud, Wolpe, and others.  Don is clear: his mother made him do it.  That’s right.  According to him, CBT got its start with Mrs. Meichenbaum.   I know you’ll be amused, but I also believe you’ll be surprised by why and how she contributed.

That said, my interview with Don isn’t merely a retrospective.  Still actively involved in the field, he shares important, evidence-based tips about trauma and resilience, applying the latest findings to the psychological and economic impacts of the coronavirus.  You’ll find the interview below.

All done for now,

Scott

Scott D. Miller, Ph.D.
Director, International Center for Clinical Excellence

Filed Under: Behavioral Health, deliberate practice, Dodo Verdict, evidence-based practice, Feedback Informed Treatment - FIT, Therapeutic Relationship

Comments

  1. Gary Cole says

    May 28, 2020 at 7:43 pm

    This was uplifting, inspiring and amusing. Love how Dr. Meichenbaum puts his CBT baby in the bigger picture.

    Reply
  2. Mike Bishop says

    May 28, 2020 at 8:57 pm

    Thanks, Scott. We love having Don at our PhD. Masters’ Series at Texas Wesleyan University. He is fun, inspiring, and sees the big picture! Thanks for the interview!

    Reply
  3. Gerald Leibowitz says

    May 28, 2020 at 8:58 pm

    Having been a grad student under Marv Goldfried in the mid 1960s, I recall the struggles to find a supervisor willing to help me learn cognitive or behavioral approaches. When people like Lazarus and, to my great delight, Milton Ericson, showed how one could integrate these various ideas/methods it was eye opening. Don Meichenbaum has been a wonderful role model, and I am so glad to see and hear him reflect on the state of CBT. I found the discussion of the stress on therapists of telehealth very, very helpful to me. Thanks.

    Reply
  4. Vivian Baruch says

    May 28, 2020 at 11:35 pm

    Terrific interview! Thanks so much for sharing this Scott. And thank you Don Meichenbaum for all the resources you created & so freely shared available on the Melissa Institute https://melissainstitute.org/

    Reply
  5. Lawrence Moloney says

    May 28, 2020 at 11:42 pm

    What a refreshing uplifting interview – almost had me in tears.

    I have been railing agains the narrowly focused use of CBT for years.

    I can live with the fact that it continues to be the ‘intervention du jour’. (We just don’t seem to be able to kick the habit of promoting a particular theory at the expense of everything else). But the use to which CBT has been put in Australia is terrible. CBT has been claimed by the clinical psychologists who have succeeded in convincing the funders that it is the gold standard intervention and that only they know how to do it. This means that a clinical psychologist gets a rebate from Australia’s medicare system of about a third more than other brands of psychology.

    I could go on (and on) but I really wanted to say that I loved the humane and historical perspective that Don Meichenbaum brought to the interview. And I wish that some of my more arrogant colleagues would take the time out to watch it,

    Thanks for sharing it.

    Reply
  6. Richie M. says

    May 29, 2020 at 3:05 am

    What a great interview, a compelling snapshot of a great thinker with a fantastic sense of humour. We talk about resilience, and the factors which underlie it, well a sense of humour as demonstrated by both Donald and Scott is so important.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

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