Training issues in cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.

Because of changes in the health-care system that tend to emphasize short-term treatment, the number of graduate students and psychotherapists interested in learning cognitive-behavioral techniques is increasing. The present study examines how pre-existing biases toward cognitive-behavioral therapy may affect acquisition of knowledge, attitude change, and use of cognitive-behavioral techniques over a nine-month practicum. Forty graduate students were classified by their theoretical orientation: cognitive-behavioral, not cognitive-behavioral, and undecided. Results indicated that all students gained significant amounts of knowledge, had greater positive attitudes about cognitive-behavioral therapy, and used more cognitive and behavioral techniques at the end of the practicum than at the beginning. These findings suggest that pre-existing theoretical orientations may not significantly affect learning of cognitive-behavioral techniques.