Commentary to Chapter “Case Formulation in Standard Cognitive Therapy”: The Use of Goals in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Case Formulation

Abstract

This commentary is divided into four sections and a conclusion. In the first three sections, we propose a reflection on the role of goals in case formulation and on the methodological and therapeutic implications derived from the centrality of anti-goals. In the fourth section, we briefly illustrate a five-point case formulation scheme, which gives an account of the description of the clinical problem, the internal profile that determines it, the mechanisms that maintain it, the precipitating events that determined its onset, and, finally, the biographical events that made the patient sensitive to certain issues and vulnerable to the clinical problem of which he or she complained.