Have you ever wondered, what is cognitive behavioral therapy? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy in which patients work with mental health counselors (therapists or psychotherapists) in a structured setting. It is a more direct and hands-on type of therapy that helps patients become aware of their negative or inaccurate thinking in an effort to respond in more effective ways and view challenging situations more clearly. CBT helps change people’s attitudes and their behavior by focusing on their cognitive processes and how these processes relate to the way a person behaves, as a way of dealing with emotional problems. It is a helpful therapy for those suffering with eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or depression but it can also be helpful for those learning how to manage stressful life situations, such as recovering from addiction. It helps patients learn about their mental health condition and then teaches and practices techniques such as stress management, relaxation, and coping. This therapy can be done in a one-on-one setting, with family, or in a group setting. This therapy is tailored for the personality and needs of each patient.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Process?
CBT focuses on a specific problem or problems with a goal-oriented approach. The therapist will have have patients identify their troubling conditions or situations in their life; such as the symptoms of their mental health condition and even their addiction as well as underlying problems like grief and anger. After identifying these the therapist will typically have patients explain their thoughts about these situations; such as their views of themselves and others in these situations. Then the therapist will ask patients to pay attention to their responses in these situations and others so that they can work on any inaccurate responses. Finally, the therapist will go over the reactions with the patients and ask them if they believe their responses were factual or an inaccurate perception of the situation. This allows them to take a step back, look at the situation from all sides and handle it appropriately and rationally. The collaborative feel of this type of therapy makes patients feel like they have more control over themselves and their own therapy which often makes them feel more comfortable about opening up.
CBT is based on the theory that events themselves do not upset us, instead it is the meanings we give them. When our thoughts are too negative, it can affect how we see and respond to these events, in a way that allows us to continue to hold onto our old thoughts and not learn anything new or see the event in a different way. This behavior and thinking starts to play into each other and can start a downward spiral that can make even worse or more problems. Many of these thinking patterns are set up in childhood and eventually become relatively fixed. They become dysfunctional assumptions or rules of living often expressed in terms of “If…then” statements or “shoulds”. Sometimes this assumptions may not be too worrisome or hinder the patient’s day-to-day life too much, but if something occurs that is beyond their control and they experience a failure, their dysfunctional thought process may be triggered and they may begin to have very bad automatic thoughts. CBT helps this person understand what is happening and step outside of their automatic thoughts and test them to see a more realistic perspective of the situation. CBT helps correct these misinterpretations in patients so that they can face the situation with less difficulty and more understanding.
The length of this therapy will depend on several factors including but not limited to the severity of symptoms, how quickly the patient makes progress, and which type of situation or disorder the patient has. Typically, CBT is seen as an advantage because it tends to be shorter than most therapies, due to its direct nature. This therapy helps patients cope with their situation or disorder in a healthy way and can even help the patient feel better about themselves and their life. It give patients a set of principles that they can use whenever they need to, even after therapy during situations they may not have been able to handle before. It can be used to treat a wide range of issues and can quickly identify and cope with specific problems.
History of CBT
CBT was introduced in the 1960s by psychiatrist Aaron Beck. He was practicing psychoanalysis and noticed that during his analytical sessions, his patients would have an internal dialogue in their minds, but only tell him a fraction of these thoughts. Such as a person asking themselves “Is that person staring at me?” This inner dialogue may then make that same person start to feel anxious or embarrassed, and this helped Beck see the importance of the link between feelings and thought. He created the term automatic thoughts to describe the emotion-filled thought that pop into someone’s mind. He also noticed that if a person was feeling upset they were typically thinking negative or unrealistic thoughts which can lead to a downward spiral. He also noted that people are not always aware of these thoughts but that they can learn to identify them, understand them, and overcome their difficulties. Beck named this therapy Cognitive Therapy because of the importance it places on thinking but it is now referred to as CBT because it also uses behavioral techniques. CBT has been through many successful scientific trials by multiple teams in different places and applied to a variety of problems.
CBT at Recovery Ways
Recovery Ways uses CBT in individual and group counseling, primarily for its function to eliminate distorted thought processes around addiction and mental health issues. Recovery Ways also uses Trauma Informed CBT which is sensitive to patients with trauma and helps these patients identify trauma they may or may not be aware of. Recovery Ways identifies what each patient will need for this therapy to be successful and tailors it to them. By using this therapy many patients become more open and accepting of the recovery process as well as any mental health problems and learn to understand them. Using this therapy in individual counseling is useful because it gives the patient a more direct focus and specific issue to work on while the group therapy allows patients a sense of togetherness and a broader issue to work on. Using CBT has been extremely helpful in patient recovery and is viewed as a vital tool along with our other therapy programs here at Recovery Ways.