What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a style of therapy that is rooted in cognitive and behavioral theories. This method of therapy focuses on altering unhelpful patterns of thinking (e.g., thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes) and behaviors that contribute to emotional distress. It also focuses on developing coping strategies, improving emotional regulation, and cultivating problem-solving skills to address current issues. Our thoughts, behaviors, physiological states, and emotions are constantly influencing each other. Therefore, by making changes to our thoughts, behaviors, and physiological states, we can change how we feel. Such alterations lead to enduring improvement in mood and functioning. This method of treatment is short-term, goal-oriented, and solution-focused. Furthermore, CBT is one of the most-researched psychotherapies and has been scientifically proven to treat a host of psychological conditions, including depression, anxiety, OCD, and trauma-response.

Cognitive Restructuring

Cognitive restructuring is a technique used to challenge errors in thinking that cause undue distress. Often when people are anxious or depressed there are specific errors in their thinking, such as extreme or overly negative thoughts, which significantly alters their mood. Cognitive restructuring is done through teaching techniques to evaluating thinking errors and a process called Socratic questioning, where a series of questions asked by the therapist helps clients challenge thinking errors.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure is a technique used to treat anxiety and fear. Clients are gradually exposed to the feared object or situation in a safe environment to extinguish their anxiety. A list of increasing levels of engagement with the feared object or situation is created and the person is exposed to each step of the list progressively. We move to the next level when the person is no longer having a strong anxiety response to the current step. By doing so, we teach the mind it is overreacting to the feared object or situation. This is often accompanied with techniques to change the person’s belief that the feared object or situation is more dangerous than it truly is.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a natural state of being where we are focused on the present moment in a non-judmental and accepting manner. This can include focus on our environment, thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, or tasks. When we are mindful, we naturally become less emotionally and physically reactive and are less likely to feel overwhelmed. The pressures of modern living, particularly for those who are prone to anxiety and depression, can lead us to dwell on the past and future rather than the present. When we focus on the past we often think about what went wrong, and when we focus on the future we often think about what can go wrong and how to prevent it. By practicing mindfulness, we can reset the balance of present vs. past/future focus. Mindfulness helps treat psychological disorders, improves mood, and reduces anxiety and rumination.

Communication Skills

We are constantly communicating verbally, non-verbally, and through our actions. People may find themselves communicating ineffectively in one or more situations. This often leads to us not getting our needs met. In treatment, we will determine more helpful ways of communicating, both verbally and non-verbally, to increase the odds of achieving our desired outcome. If lack of assertiveness is an issue, this will also be addressed.