Cognitive Experiential Group Therapy: An Innovative Blending of Two Therapeutic Modalities

Abstract

I n the spirit of openness, I wish to declare at the very outset that I have worked closely and previously published with the workbook’s author Thomas Treadwell and two of its three contributors Deborah Dartnell and Letitia Travaglini. However, because I have closely followed the development of Treadwell’s ideas over many years as he experimented with integrating cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques with psychodrama action techniques, I wanted to review his latest book as I was excited to see how his ideas finally came together. The book includes seven chapters, the first being a brief introduction and overview of what the book is about. The second chapter reviews the basic elements of CBT (notions of cognitive distortions, schemas, automatic thoughts, core beliefs, and types of behavioral interventions). Chapter three does the same for psychodrama. Chapter four covers the basic elements of running an experiential group therapy session using both CBT and psychodrama techniques. Chapter five provides a detailed illustration of a cognitive experiential group treatment (CEGT) session. Chapter six is devoted to running CEGT sessions with adolescents, and the last chapter details the CEGT approach to treating patients with social anxiety disorder, followed by International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 72: 400–405, 2022 © 2022 The American Group Psychotherapy Association, Inc. ISSN: 0020-7284 print/1943-2836 online DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00207284.2022.2114774