Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Autism Ranking:

Audience

CBT is most commonly used to help people with anxiety and depression but it is also used to help people with other mental and physical health problems.

CBT is likely to work best for those individuals who have the ability and the preference for understanding, monitoring and managing their own emotions and behaviour. It is therefore likely to work best for individuals aged 8 years old or over and who have a verbal IQ of 70 or more.  

CBT is less likely to work for individuals who are less than 8 years old, who have a verbal IQ of less than 70 or who have alexithymia (a condition which makes it difficult for them to describe and label emotions). 

CBT can also be considerably more challenging for some autistic people. For example, they may struggle with certain cognitive tasks (such as creating an alternative perspective of a situation).

Updated

16 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Mar 2017

Next Review

01 Jul 2023