🔍 Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | I-CBT Course
Updated: Oct 19
Free Course by Everything IFS Academy | Therapeutic Modalities Series
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🔍Welcome to the Free Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT) Course for Everyday People
🎧 Audio - Listen as you go - Eliza
In the 1990s, in a research clinic in Montreal, psychologists Kieron O'Connor and Frederick Aardema began asking a question most OCD treatment had skipped over: where does the obsession actually come from? The approach they built together, Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, answers it with a lens that changed how many people understand the disorder: OCD begins with a doubt, and that doubt is produced by a particular style of reasoning rather than by anything happening in reality. Resolve the doubt at its source, and the compulsion loses its job. I-CBT is supported by randomized controlled trials, and it's known for something many people find hard to believe until they try it: it does not require deliberately exposing yourself to the things you fear.
This course teaches pure I-CBT, with no other modalities blended in, written in plain, emotionally relatable language for everyday people. You might live with OCD yourself, love someone who does, want to compare the different ways people treat it, or have no connection to OCD at all and simply wonder how a therapy could work without exposure; this course was built for all of you. You'll learn how an obsessional doubt gets manufactured, the reasoning story your OCD tells to make an imagined possibility feel real, and how to trace that story back to the moment it left reality behind, so you can return to trusting what your senses actually tell you. Each module offers clear teaching and real-life examples, and ends with a simple I-CBT practice so you can begin using the skill right away.
It isn't clinical training for therapists and doesn't offer continuing education credits.
Course outline
Click any lesson below to begin.
The Basics 1. What Is I-CBT 2. Kieron O'Connor & Frederick Aardema 3. The Obsessional Sequence
How Obsessional Doubt Works
4. Obsessional Doubt vs Normal Doubt 5. Inferential Confusion 6. The Obsessional Story 7. 100% Imaginary, 100% Irrelevant 8. The OCD Bubble and Crossing Over
Coming Back to Reality 9. Reality Sensing
The Self Work 11. The Feared Self & Vulnerable Self-Theme
Living It 14, I-CBT in Everyday Life
OCD Themes Overviews
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Disclaimer:
Everything IFS Academy is an independent educational platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the IFS Institute. While we strive for accuracy, errors can occur, and users are encouraged to cross-reference critical information. These courses, lessons, skills, and practices are offered for educational and self-reflection purposes only. They do not constitute therapy, mental health treatment, clinical training, or crisis support, and they should not be used as a substitute for professional mental health care.
Crisis Support: 🚨
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, feel unsafe, feel at risk of harming yourself or someone else, or feel too overwhelmed to safely use self-directed practices, please pause this material and reach out for immediate support. Contact a licensed mental health professional, call or text 988 in the U.S. or Canada, or use your local emergency or crisis resources.
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