David is an Emeritus Adjunct Professor of Clinical Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. In the early days of his career, David worked very closely with Aaron Beck, the founder of CBT, and also wrote the highly popular and influential self-help book, Feeling Good. Dr Burns also knew Albert Ellis, who founded REBT, and has many interesting, and, in the case of Albert Ellis, often amusing, stories to tell of the initial, pioneering work in the fields of REBT and CBT.
TEAM-CBT was developed by Dr David Burns
Depression and Anxiety
David’s decades-long research into the most powerful clinical tools to treat depression and anxiety resulted in the development of TEAM-CBT, an evidence-based structure to support therapists in providing rapidly effective treatments for mood problems, relationship issues, habits and addictions.
David’s model is a very inclusive one: he has closely analysed the effectiveness of different methods from many major therapeutic schools, as he believes that “tools, not schools” of therapy work best. His aim was to discover which techniques were most effective. From this work, he has designed a framework to maximise the efficacy of therapy.
In brief, the structure of TEAM-CBT revolves around the following areas:
David was a Pioneer of CBT
His work in TEAM-CBT aims to refine and rationalise CBT concepts and techniques. In particular, it capitalises on CBT’s focus on evidence (through the emphasis on testing), the importance of agenda setting, clearly agreed goals and also on a range of interactive, rapidly effective methods. It is, therefore, a natural extension of traditional CBT training and is a great way to learn about advanced CBT skills.
Secondly, as it is based on “tools, not schools” of therapy, knowledge of TEAM-CBT enhances the therapeutic work of practitioners of many different types of therapy. Its aim is to engage therapists and the general public with the tools that work best.