H eadlines
Dr. Aaron T. Beck
Courtesy of MoonLoop Photography, c/o Beck Institute
extra care,” she said, adding
that, “He nurtured my intellec-
tual development.”
Dr. Judy Beck followed her
father into the cognitive behav-
ioral therapy field, founding
the Beck Institute in Bala
Cynwyd with him in 1994.

Later in his life, she noticed
that he took a particular
interest in an illness he had
overlooked: schizophrenia.

Aaron Beck recognized that
his usual therapeutic approach
— focusing on a patient’s
negative habits and views
— didn’t work with schizo-
phrenic patients. Instead, he
had to motivate them to focus
on times when they were at
their best.

Those afflicted with schizo-
phrenia suffer from a feeling of
disconnection. It was vital to
make them feel like they could
use their strengths to connect,
Judy Beck said.

Her father even told her that
maybe he had made a mistake
with cognitive behavioral
therapy, his life’s work. Maybe
he should have been focusing
on people’s strengths all along.

“It demonstrated his flexi-
bility,” she said.

Son Dan Beck was not
planning on speaking at his
father’s funeral. He didn’t
think he could sum up a
65-year relationship in a few
minutes. But the morning of the
service, he took a walk around
Wynnewood and it came to him.

Dan Beck recalled that,
given his father’s status, his
young friends pictured his
house as some lively intellec-
tual salon. But when they came
over, they didn’t find Freud
himself arguing with Aaron
Beck in the living room,
he said.

Instead, the Becks were just
a normal Philadelphia family.

They even went to Wildwood
every August to go on the
boardwalk rides.

Dan Beck’s earliest memory
with his father was of him
singing, “Oh Danny Boy,”
throwing him in the air and
catching him. The son cracked
up every time. Now, he does
the same thing with his kids.

During a difficult period in
his 30s, Dan Beck often asked
his father for advice.

“He said, ‘Just write down
three things you want to do
today, and as you do them,
cross them off,’” Dan recalled.

“‘Don’t worry about tomorrow.

Tomorrow will work out.’”
“He was right,” Dan Beck
said. “Tomorrow did work
out.” Aaron Beck is survived
by his wife, Phyllis; children
Roy, Judith, Daniel and Alice;
10 grandchildren; and 10
great-grandchildren. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
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Dr. Aaron T. Beck
Courtesy of James J. Craig, c/o of Beck Institute
several years ago and began
discussing one of Dr. Beck’s
patients at Norristown State
Hospital. The patient, who
suffered from schizophrenia,
had assaulted an aide and
gotten incarcerated.

Dr. Beck argued to his
youngest child that every day
the patient spent behind bars
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Clients able to invest a
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would erode the progress
they’d made. His daughter said
a crime had been committed.

The psychiatrist saw his
daughter’s point, but he was
still upset.

Years later, Beck Dubow
realized that her father was
right. “There should have been
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