Learn the Basics of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and How to Teach Yourself
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a type of treatment for mental health problems that involves altering your thinking and behavior. It’s an alternative to medication and often more successful than psychotherapy or other types of talk therapy.
CBT was developed by psychiatrist Aaron Beck, who identified automatic negative thoughts and created a series of techniques for changing them. The key is to break those thoughts down into smaller components and replace them with more realistic beliefs that will ultimately result in improved outcomes.
This book provides the foundations of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and how to implement it on your own. Filled with essential worksheets, diaries, case studies and tasks that will push you beyond your comfort zone and give you a more optimistic outlook on life, this guide can help you cultivate those positive traits!
Treating depression or anxiety can seem overwhelming at first, but by breaking it into manageable steps and focusing on what you can do to reach those objectives, you’ll feel more confident as you make progress and be able to focus on recovery.
Your therapist will work with you to identify and challenge any distorted thoughts or beliefs causing symptoms, then replace them with more positive ones in order to overcome your issue.
CBT can assist in recognizing the underlying issues, such as an unhealthy relationship with food, lack of motivation or anxiety. Once identified, you’ll begin taking steps towards remedying these causes by learning new coping techniques or altering how you respond to situations that trigger symptoms.
A major goal of CBT is to alter your own thinking and behavioral patterns, so you become more aware of what may be causing your symptoms so you can make healthier decisions. Your therapist will assist you in recognizing and altering any harmful thinking or behaving patterns such as making negative self-talk or ignoring reality.
This step is essential because it will help you transform negative thoughts and beliefs about yourself or your life into more realistic, positive ones. Replacing these distorted perspectives with more realistic ones will bring about significant improvements in your quality of life as well as an improved sense of self-worth.
You can achieve this through various techniques, such as thought recording – writing down what you believe and then reviewing the evidence to back it up. Similarly, cognitive restructuring involves identifying an inaccurate belief and then challenging it with objective evidence from outside sources.
