Beck Wins Lasker Award

APS Fellow Aaron T. Beck, widely considered the father of cognitive therapy, was recently awarded the 2006 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research. Often referred to as “America’s Nobels,” the Lasker Awards honor scientists whose work has led to a better understanding of diseases and how we overcome them. The Lasker Foundation chose to honor Beck because they believe that his creation of cognitive therapy has “transformed the understanding and treatment of many psychiatric conditions, including depression, suicidal behavior, generalized anxiety, panic attacks, and eating disorders.”  Beck recently told the Observer that this award not only is personally important for him, but also a key recognition for the field as a whole. “Aside from the personal recognition,” Beck said, “I believe that this award represents a shifting of the tides indicated by the endorsement by premier medical scientists of the crucial importance of psychological approaches to the understanding and treatment of psychopathology.”

Beck was trained in the tenets of Freudian ideology, but after analyzing the dream content of his depressed patients, he noted that they were most likely to dream of loss and personal inadequacy rather than rage or anger as Freud had claimed. This led to a realization that depression may not stem from unconscious hate toward others, but from unfounded negative beliefs about oneself. Beck’s work helping patients to change these beliefs resulted in the framework that became cognitive therapy, which he believes provides better results for short-term treatment of depression than do anti-depressants.

Beck continues to explore the scope of cognitive therapy and is currently researching its effectiveness in treating Borderline Personality Disorder and Schizophrenia.