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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most dominant models in modern psychotherapy. If you train as a therapist, you’re going to learn it. I did.
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Before training as a therapist my background was in history, and recently I learned about the link between Stoicism and CBT and here’s the part that interests me most: many of CBT’s core ideas are not actually modern. They trace back over 2,000 years to Stoic philosophy in Ancient Greece and Rome.

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Exploring this historical connection does not require taking a position on CBT’s overall effectiveness. Rather, it highlights how enduring philosophical questions about emotion, judgment, and suffering have shaped the development of modern psychological theory — and I find that interesting.

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I was trained in CBT. I understand the structure, the thought records, the cognitive distortions, all of that. But I don’t practice CBT in a strict, manualized way. It’s not the framework I primarily work from. That said, I douse certain cognitive ideas when they’re useful. And I also find myself naturally incorporating Stoic principles in therapy when they fit.

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So for me, this isn’t about promoting CBT. It’s about recognizing where some of these ideas came from — and why they’ve lasted so long.

The Stoic Roots

Stoicism was founded in the 3rd century BCE by Zeno of Citium and later developed by thinkers like Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius.

At the center of Stoicism is a simple but challenging idea: we can’t control everything that happens to us, but we can examine how we interpret what happens. Epictetus put it plainly — we are disturbed not by events, but by our judgments about them (Robertson, 2010).

That idea should sound familiar to anyone who has studied CBT.

From Stoicism to REBT and CBT

In the 1950s, Albert Ellis developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) which is considered the precursor to CBT. He was very open about his Stoic influences. His A-B-C model — Activating event, Belief, Consequence — mirrors the Stoic idea that beliefs mediate emotional outcomes (Ellis, 1962).

Later, Aaron T. Beck developed Cognitive Therapy, which became what we now call CBT. Beck observed that people experience 'automatic thoughts' that shape mood and behavior (Beck, 1979). Again, the overlap with Stoic thinking is hard to miss.

Whether someone loves CBT, critiques it, or feels neutral about it, historically speaking its philosophical roots are clear.

Why I Think This Is Worth Looking At

For me, the value in examining this connection isn’t about arguing that CBT is the best therapy model. It’s more about appreciating that many ideas we call 'evidence-based' today were wrestled with centuries ago in philosophical form. Concepts in Buddhism developed even earlier than Stoicism are worth noting — especially the emphasis on how perception shapes suffering and the importance of non-attachment — and Buddhism predates Stoicism by roughly 100–200 years (Gethin, 1998).

I don’t practice CBT directly. But I do believe that helping clients examine their interpretations, challenge extreme thinking, and distinguish between what they can and can’t control is often helpful. Those ideas belonged to Stoicism long before they belonged to psychotherapy.

Clients sometimes appreciate knowing that these tools aren’t just modern techniques — they’re part of a much older conversation about how to live well. And for anyone interested in either philosophy or therapy,understanding this link adds depth.

If you want to explore Stoicism directly, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is a powerful starting point. For a modern exploration of the Stoicism-CBT connection, Donald Robertson has written extensively on the subject.

At HOPE Therapy, we draw from multiple approaches depending on the person in front of us and some of us specialize in modalities, including CBT. Sometimes CBT ideas are useful and very effective, no doubt about it. Sometimes other frameworks are a better fit. But understanding where these ideas come from, no matter the model — that part I just genuinely find fascinating.

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References

Beck, A. T. (1979). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. Penguin.

Ellis, A. (1962). Reason and emotion in psychotherapy. Lyle Stuart.

Robertson, D. (2010). The philosophy of cognitive-behavioural therapy: Stoic philosophy as rational and cognitive psychotherapy. Karnac Books.

Gethin, R. (1998). The foundations of Buddhism. Oxford University Press.

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Photo by Sam Szuchan on Unsplash