It is easier for patients to recognize the distortion in their specific
thoughts than in their broad understandings of themselves, their worlds,
and others. But through repeated experiences in which they gain relief
by working at a more superficial level of cognition, patients become
more open to evaluating the beliefs that underlie their dysfunctional
thinking. Relevant intermediate-level beliefs and core beliefs are evaluated
in various ways and subsequently modified so that patients’ perceptions
of and conclusions about events change. This deeper modification
of more fundamental beliefs makes patients less likely to relapse (Evans
et al., 1992; Hollon, DeRubeis, & Seligman, 1992).