1
Pa RT I
Co g n iT i v e Th e o r y a nD re s e a rC h
o n an x i eT y
Cognitive therapy is a theory- driven psychotherapy with a strong commit-
ment to scientific empiricism. Its defining characteristics are not found in a set
of unique intervention strategies but rather in its cognitive conceptualization
of psychopathology and the therapeutic change process. Thus articulation of
the cognitive model as well as the derivation of testable hypotheses and their
empirical evaluation are critical to determining its construct validity. Similar
to the organization of earlier primary treatment manuals of cognitive therapy,
this book begins with a focus on the theoretical and empirical foundation of
cognitive therapy for anxiety. Chapter 1 discusses phenomenology, diagnostic
features, and the cognitive perspective on fear and anxiety. Chapter 2 presents
the reformulated generic or transdiagnostic cognitive model of anxiety and its
hypotheses, whereas Chapter 3 provides a critical evaluation of the prodigious
experimental literature relevant to key aspects of the cognitive model. This
section concludes with Chapter 4, which focuses on empirical evidence for cog-
nitive vulnerability to experience heightened states of intense and persistent
a n x iet y.