What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?

Cognitive behavioural therapyis a type of psychotherapy that blends cognitive and behavioural therapies by recognising unhelpful thoughts, emotions, or behavioural patterns and substituting them with constructive ones.

The goal of cognitive behavioural therapy is to alter the automatic negative thoughts that exacerbate anxiety, depression, and other emotional problems. Our mood is also negatively impacted by these impulsive negative thoughts.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) allows unhelpful thoughts to be recognised, contested, and replaced with more realistic, objective thoughts.

Cognitive behavioural therapy types

A variety of methods and strategies that target our feelings, ideas, and actions are included in CBT. These can consist of self-help techniques as well as organised psychotherapies. The following are a few particular therapeutic modalities that use cognitive behavioural therapy:

Dialectical behaviour therapy:Using therapeutic techniques like emotional control and mindfulness, dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) addresses harmful or unsettling thoughts and behaviours.

Multimodal therapy:According to multimodal therapy, treatment for psychological problems should address seven distinct but related modalities – behaviour, affect, sensation, imagery, cognition, interpersonal factors, and drug/biological considerations.

Rational emotive therapy:In rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT), illogical beliefs are first identified, then vigorously contested, and ultimately, the ability to locate and modify thought patterns is acquired.

Though they all employ different strategies, cognitive behavioural therapies, all aim to address the underlying thought patterns that give rise to psychological distress.

Techniques for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Beyond recognising thought patterns, CBT aims to do more. It employs a variety of techniques to assist people in breaking these patterns. These are but a handful of the methods employed in cognitive behavioural therapy:

Recognising Negative Thoughts

Finding out what situations, emotions, and ideas lead to maladaptive behaviour is crucial. But this can be challenging, particularly for those who find it difficult to reflect. However, taking the time to recognise these thoughts can also result in self-awareness and offer perspectives critical to the therapeutic process.

Putting New Skills into Practice

Individuals receiving cognitive behavioural therapy learn new abilities to apply to everyday life. For instance, a person with a substance use disorder may practise coping mechanisms and social situations avoidance or management techniques to prepare for the possibility of a relapse.

Setting Objectives

Setting goals can help you make changes to enhance your life and health and is a crucial step in recovering from mental illness. An expert in cognitive behavioural therapy can assist you in developing and strengthening your goal-setting abilities.

This could entail imparting knowledge on goal identification or distinguishing between short- and long-term objectives. It might also involve assisting you in creating SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound—emphasising the procedure rather than the product.

Solving Problems

Gaining problem-solving abilities during cognitive behavioural therapy can assist you in recognising and resolving issues of all sizes that may result from life’s stressors. Additionally, it can lessen the detrimental effects of both physical and mental illness.

Self-Observation

Self-monitoring, also known as diary work, is a crucial cognitive behavioural therapy method. It entails keeping a log of one’s experiences, symptoms, and behaviours and reporting them to one’s therapist.

Your therapist can get the information they need to give you the best care possible by having you self-monitor. Self-monitoring, for instance, might entail recording eating behaviours and any emotions or ideas accompanying a meal or snack for someone with an eating disorder.

What Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Can Help With

As a short-term intervention, cognitive behavioural therapy can teach patients to pay attention to their current ideas and beliefs.

CBT is used to address various illnesses and issues, such as:

Cognitive behavioural therapy is also proven to help individuals cope with the following conditions in addition to mental health issues:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy’s advantages

CBT is based on the fundamental idea that thoughts and feelings influence behaviour. For instance, someone who obsesses over plane crashes, runway mishaps, and other aviation catastrophes might avoid flying.

Cognitive behavioural therapy teaches patients that although powerless over everything in their environment, they are in charge of how they perceive and respond.

CBT is easily accessible via online counselling from the comfort of your home.

CBT is well-known for offering the following main advantages:

  • Making you conscious of the unfavourable and frequently illogical thoughts that lower your emotions and moods aids in the development of healthier thought patterns.
  • Because improvements are frequently seen in five to twenty sessions, it is an effective short-term treatment option.
  • It is frequently less expensive than certain other forms of therapy, and it is effective for a wide range of maladaptive behaviours.
  • It works for people who don’t need psychotropic medication. It can be used in both in-person and online therapy settings.

One of CBT’s most significant advantages is that it helps clients acquire coping mechanisms they can use in the present and the future.

The effectiveness of cognitive behavioural treatment

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) emerged in the 1960s when psychiatrist Aaron Beck observed that specific thought patterns were linked to emotional issues. These were dubbed “automatic negative thoughts” by Beck.

The cognitive approach examines how thoughts and feelings influence behaviour, in contrast to previous behaviour therapies that had almost exclusively focused on associations, rewards, and punishments to modify behaviour.

Nowadays, one of the most researched types of therapy is cognitive behavioural therapy. Numerous mental illnesses, such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, insomnia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorder, have been demonstrated to respond well to them.

Aspects of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to Take Into Account

People may experience several difficulties when undergoing cognitive behavioural therapy. Here are some things to think about:

Change Is Not Always Easy

First, some patients say that even though they understand that some of their thoughts are unhealthy or illogical, changing them requires awareness.

CBT Is Highly Organised

Unlike psychoanalytic psychotherapy and other approaches, cognitive behavioural therapy does not place as much emphasis on underlying, unconscious resistance to change.Instead, it tends to be more structured, so those who struggle with structure might not find it appropriate.

You Have to Be Open to Changing

You must be prepared and willing to invest time and energy in critically examining your thoughts and feelings for cognitive behavioural therapy to succeed. Although this self-analysis can be challenging, it’s a fantastic method to understand how our inner states influence our outer behaviour.

Progress Is Usually Gradual

CBT is a slow process that aids in small steps towards behaviour modification. For instance, a person suffering from social anxiety might begin by just visualising social scenarios that make them anxious. They might then practise having conversations with acquaintances, relatives, and friends.

How To Start Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

If you believe that you or a loved one could benefit from this type of therapy, think about taking the following actions:

To find a licenced practitioner in your area, speak with your doctor to search for “cognitive behavioural therapy near me” to identify nearby therapists with expertise in this field. Of course, the therapist’s location may be anywhere if you opt for online counselling.

Consider your preferences, such as whether you would benefit more from online or in-person therapy.

Get an appointment with the therapist of your choice.

Arrive at your first session with a positive outlook and an open mind. Prepare yourself to start recognising the ideas and actions that might prevent you from moving forward and commit to mastering the techniques that will help you do so.

If cognitive behavioural therapy is new, you might be apprehensive or fearful of what to anticipate. The first session starts like your first visit with any new medical professional.

Aside from your symptoms, discuss your history, upbringing, education, work history, personal and romantic relationships, and what led you to seek therapy.

Once the therapist has a better understanding of your identity, the difficulties you are facing, and your objectives for cognitive behavioural therapy, they can assist you in becoming more conscious of the unhelpful or unrealistic ideas and beliefs you hold. After that, techniques are put into place to assist you in creating better thought and behaviour patterns.

In subsequent meetings, you will talk about the strategies that are and aren’t working for you and adjust the ones that are. In between sessions, your therapist might also recommend self-management techniques for cognitive behavioural therapy, like journaling to recognise unfavourable thoughts or practising new methods to manage your anxiety.

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