Reported use of CBT techniques and their targets among Australian mental health practitioners: a mixed methods study

ABSTRACT

Background

Mental health practitioners of cognitive and behaviour therapies (CBTs) have an ethical obligation to select evidence-based techniques. Little data are available on which techniques are used and whether technique use varies as a function of a therapist’s theoretical orientation.

Aim

The study explored the use of CBT techniques among a diverse sample of Australian mental health practitioners (MHPs). The focus was to assess the extent to which different CBT techniques are used in their practice.

Method

A mixed methods study was conducted with a large MHP sample who were taking part in a post-qualification CBT training course.

Results

Of the 2,086 MHPs, 41% (n = 864) reported using behaviourally focused techniques, and 49% (n = 1,032) reported using cognitively focused techniques. Self-described theoretical orientation could differentiate technique use. A diverse range of CBT techniques were reported by MHPs in the present study.

Conclusions

The different ways MHPs used techniques put a spotlight on how different targets may be a focus of the same technique.

Key Points

What is already known about this topic:

1. CBT remains the dominant training model of psychological therapies in Australian universities.

2. The past few decades have witnessed an evolution in CBTs, regarding the diversification of techniques.

3. It is unclear whether therapists use a broad array of CBT techniques in their everyday clinical practice and if that use varies as a function of theoretical orientation.

What this topic adds:

1. Australian Mental Health Professionals (MHPs) indicated that they use a diverse array of behaviourally focused and cognitively focused techniques in their practice.

2. Self-identified theoretical orientation meaningfully differentiated from reported CBT technique use in practice.

3. A range of emotional, behavioural and cognitive targets were reported by MHPs.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive behavior therapy
• CBT
• cognitive therapy
• techniques
• use
• process

Disclosure statement

Nikolaos Kazantzis reported being the Australian delegate for the International Association of Cognitive Behavior Therapy, which has a strategic partnership with the Academy of Cognitive Therapy; being a consultant to the Australian Psychological Society; serving on the advisory board, being a member of the faculty and fees from the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy; receiving compensation from Springer Nature; receiving royalties from Springer Nature, Guilford, and Routledge publishers of New York. No other author had conflicts of interest to disclose.

Ethics statement

The authors attest that local institutional review boards reviewed the ethical conditions for the research presented in this manuscript. The research involved an evaluation of anonymous data provided by mental health practitioners during a professional training course, was deemed to be “low risk” within the review processes at La Trobe University and therefore did not receive an approval number.

Informed consent statement

The participants, mental health practitioners, were fully informed about the nature of the research and the use of its data.

Data availability statement

Raw data were generated at the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Research Unit. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the primary author [A. M. P.] on request.