Archives: Authors

Aaron T. Beck, M.D., is an American psychiatrist and a professor emeritus in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He is widely regarded as the father of cognitive therapy, and his pioneering theories are widely used in the treatment of clinical depression. Beck also developed self-report measures of depression and anxiety including the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSS), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Beck Youth Inventories. He is the President Emeritus of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy and the Honorary President of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, which certifies qualified cognitive therapists.

Abigail Hirsch, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with couples and families. She is author of  The Power of Two Workbook and directs the Power of Two Online Program.

Adam Brandt, LPCA, is a licensed psychotherapist based in Raleigh, NC. He graduated from the University of Dayton and is currently working on his doctorate in counseling at North Carolina State University. Adam is interested in counselor faith integration, existential psychotherapy, Buddhist psychology and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Adam’s clinical experience is primarily with college students and young adults. 

Adriana Bellodi Cosa César is a clinical psychologist and couple and family therapist who is certified by the ICCP (International Certificate in Collaborative and Dialogic Practices) by INTERFACI Institute, Brazil. TAOS Institute´s associate. Due to her passion for childhood issues, she has dedicated herself to independently researching clinical practices that enhance the care of children, both individually and in family therapy, for many years. Narrative, Collaborative-Dialogical practices and Reflective Processes are her theoretical and methodological inspirations. Creativity is the beauty and joy of putting all this knowledge into action. 

Adriana Müller is a Brazilian narrative therapist with a master's degree in developmental psychology who has worked as a family therapist for 30 years. She has also sown narrative ideas as a postgraduate lecturer at Crescent/FDV since 2007 and through the podcast ‘CBN e a Família’. In 2010, she created the Rhythm of Life – a collective narrative practice methodology which uses the metaphor of music to connect people and their stories like musical instruments that are to be played ‘in synch’. The Rhythm of Life has already been applied in several countries showing that music is a language that overcomes barriers.

Coming from a multicultural family with members from six different countries getting together once or twice a year, and also being a founding member of a sustainable development NGO in an area of the Atlantic rainforest in the state where she lives, Adriana believes that shared knowledge can connect hearts and minds to build a possible future based in harmony.  

Afshan Mohamedali, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist working in the Greater New York area. She completed her doctorate at the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology at Adelphi University. She enjoys working with patients around issues relating to depression, anxiety, identity, and relationship struggles through both individual and couple’s therapy. She specializes in helping patients make sense of the thoughts and feelings that they experience and how this informs previous experiences and current relationships. Dr. Mohamedali has conducted research on the ethnic minority experience in treatment settings and is a guest lecturer on topics related to conceptualizing and treating Muslim patients. As a first-generation Indian- and Muslim-American, she hopes to help other treatment providers understand the nuances of this population’s experiences. Dr. Mohamedali is also a supervisor to post-doctoral fellows and mental health providers on psychotherapy cases and an adjunct professor at Adelphi University. Her motto is: just keep curious. Her website is www.amohamedaliphd.com.

Albert Bandura is the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University and the author of ten books, including Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control and Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. For nearly six decades, he has been responsible for contributions to many fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy, personality psychology, self-efficacy, and was also influential in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology.

It was during his studies on adolescent aggression that Bandura became interested in vicarious learning, modeling and imitation. Out of this work came Social Learning Theory, which Bandura is best known for. The theory stresses the importance of observational learning, imitation and modeling. He famously made the case for social learning in the 1961 Bobo doll study. In the experiment, Bandura made a film in which a woman was shown beating up a Bobo doll and shouting aggressive words. The film was then shown to a group of children. Afterwards, the children were allowed to play in a room that held a Bobo doll. The children immediately began to beat the doll, imitating the actions and words of the woman in the film. Social Learning Theory, unlike traditional Behaviorism, posits a continuous interaction between behaviors and the environment, mediated by cognition.

In recent years, Bandura has been involved with the development and dispersion of serial dramas in developing nations, using the tenets of Social Learning Theory to influence social change in reproductive health and women’s rights. The dramas are much more effective to influence social norms than documentaries because the powerful emotional ties formed with audiences increase the likelihood that the audience will model the behavior in the dramas.

Perhaps equally important to Social Learning Theory is Bandura’s work on self-efficacy. While investigating the processes by which modeling alleviates phobic disorders in snake-phobics, he found that self-efficacy beliefs (belief in one’s own capabilities to alleviate one’s phobia) mediated changes in behavior and in fear-arousal. He launched a major program of research examining the influential role of self-referent thought in psychological functioning, which has had a considerable impact on the field of psychotherapy.