Cognitive therapy for the treatment of depression has been in existence for many years. As he performed psychotherapy, Aaron Beck, the principal architect of cognitive therapy, identified 'automatic thoughts' his clients exhibited. He did not believe that these negative automatic thoughts 'caused depression.' Beck:

• A. Suggested a negative cognitive shift occurred in the individual's thinking.
• B. Capitalized on the concepts developed by Albert Ellis in developing his cognitive therapy
• C. Believed that depression seldom occurred because of interpersonal factors
• D. Developed a theory of reciprocal inhibition.

Answer: (A)

Beck’s approach centers on how negative automatic thoughts arise from deeper faulty beliefs and distorted processing, and how these thoughts help sustain depressive symptoms. He did not view automatic thoughts as the initial cause of depression; instead, they reflect a negative shift in thinking that maintains the illness by shaping how a person experiences and interprets events. Therefore, describing the core idea as a negative cognitive shift occurring in the person’s thinking best matches his view. The other ideas don’t fit as well: Beck’s work did not simply build on Ellis’s ideas, depression isn’t primarily tied to interpersonal factors in his theory, and reciprocal inhibition belongs to a different behavioral framework.