Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – Techniques for Retraining Your Brain
CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) is a brief therapy approach designed to help individuals discover new behaviors. It works on the principle that how you think and interpret life events influences your mood, behavior and feelings; making it effective in treating depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment that has proven successful in helping those suffering from depression, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and other issues. It’s a type of talk therapy that emphasizes problem solving and requires collaboration between therapist and patient in order to reach a common objective.
Cognitive behavioral therapy strives to build an understanding and relationship between you and your therapist, who will assist in teaching you practical skills for improving overall wellbeing and leading a healthier lifestyle. Together, they will identify any faulty thoughts, behaviors or emotional patterns preventing progress and provide solutions for altering them.
A cognitive behavioral therapist may suggest techniques such as meditation and exercise to help change your thoughts and habits. These are particularly effective in helping the brain cope with stress, anxiety and other emotional difficulties.
Your therapist may ask you to track your thoughts and behaviors over time, in order to better understand how they are connected. For example, if you often worry that an exam is going to fail, not studying as much as needed could reinforce this belief that failure is imminent. This practice, known as cognitive restructuring, may be beneficial for individuals suffering from OCD or other disorders due to distorted thinking.
A successful therapist should be honest, empathic and sensitive when communicating with clients. They must be able to build rapport and encourage active participation from their patients while providing them with the warmth and compassion that they require.
They should be a licensed and certified mental health professional with experience in the condition you are dealing with. They should be able to explain the advantages of their approach as well as any techniques they employ.
This highly structured, focused program can last up to 20 sessions. It involves identifying problematic thinking and behavior patterns, developing a conceptualization of the situation, cultivating trust with the patient, and deciding what will be addressed in each session.
The program is typically led by a professional or paraprofessional who has undergone training to become an expert in cognitive behavioral therapy. They typically invest 40 hours or more to become knowledgeable in this area, and are taught specific techniques to facilitate the process.
Cognitive behavioral therapy has proven to be highly effective in treating a variety of mental health disorders and symptoms, such as depression, phobias, social anxiety and chronic headaches. Additionally, it may aid those struggling with addictions, post-traumatic stress disorder or obsessive compulsive disorders.
