What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that has been used since the late 1960s to help people understand, confront, and manage various psychological issues. By focusing on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected, CBT is designed to increase self-awareness and to work on reducing problematic behaviors and replacing these with healthier behavior patterns. CBT is an evidence-based psychological treatment, meaning that it is supported by research. CBT typically takes place in individual sessions with a therapist, and can involve both short-term, problem-focused work, as well as longer-term, more systematic techniques.

The Fundamentals of CBT

The techniques used in CBT are rooted in the fundamental principle that individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all related and can each have a direct or indirect influence on one another. CBT uses this format to identify and target maladaptive patterns of thinking and feelings, and then works to challenge these patterns and replace them with more healthy and functional techniques. While the primary focus of CBT is the here-and-now, the therapist may also ask the client to reflect on past experiences and how they interact with their current way of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

CBT Strategies

The strategies used in CBT focus on helping clients identify how their thoughts and beliefs directly influence their moods and behavior. As a result, clients can become more mindful of how they react to certain situations and begin to change how they think, feel, and act. CBT emphasizes goal directed approaches and uses various skills and techniques to help tackle problems, such as keeping a thought diary, problem-solving exercises, cognitive challenges, and relaxation techniques. In addition, the therapist may also use behavioral experiments and exposure techniques – helping the client to confront their fears and challenges in order to face them, rather than avoiding them.

Overall, CBT is an effective method of helping people become more aware of, and work on managing, their psychological issues. It is a collaborative process between the therapist and the client that focuses on the interactions between thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and seeks to create achievable goals which the therapist and client can work on together to achieve.