What is CBT?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common type of psychotherapy (talk therapy). It is a combination of two different types of therapy: cognitive therapy and behavior therapy. The basic idea behind CBT is that your thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes affect how you feel both emotionally and physically. CBT can help change the way you think about a situation or problem to change the way you react to it.
Behavioral therapy focuses on changing actions by rewarding behaviors that are appropriate for a person’s circumstances. Cognitive therapists often use behavioral techniques when working with clients who struggle with anxiety disorders or depression because these issues tend to be related to negative thoughts and behaviors.
What does CBT treat?
CBT is a form of therapy that can help you learn to think differently about your life. It’s also called “cognition,” which means “how we think.” CBT is often used to treat depression and anxiety, but it’s also used for other mental health issues like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), phobias, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, and schizophrenia.
Why is CBT done?
CBT was first developed in the 1960s by psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck as an alternative to traditional psychoanalytic therapies that focused on unconscious mental processes or what he called “the black box” of the mind. Instead, CBT focuses on identifying negative thoughts that cause distress and finding ways to change them into more positive ones so they no longer have such a powerful impact on our moods or behavior patterns. CBT involves several techniques such as role-playing and cognitive restructuring.
What can CBT do?
CBT is a treatment for depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. It can also be used to help you manage stress and deal with problems in your life.
It can help you understand how you think and feel. CBT helps you learn about your moods, thoughts, and behavior by teaching you how they work together to create feelings that affect your everyday life. You’ll learn skills to change these patterns of thinking and behaving so that it helps improve the way you feel even when things are difficult or stressful at first.
It can help reduce symptoms of depression (like sadness or hopelessness). People with depression often have negative patterns of thinking that make them feel worse about themselves or situations they’re in — like feeling guilty and unliked. CBT exercises such as mindfulness meditation (which enables one to focus on what’s happening now instead of worrying about the future) can help patients transform their negative emotions into positive ones, such as happiness.
How long does it take?
It usually lasts between six and 12 weeks and involves meeting with a therapist once or twice a week. While you may be able to complete CBT in less time, some people will continue with CBT for longer than 12 weeks if they need more support. The goal of CBT is not to fix every problem you have—it’s just meant to solve one specific problem at a time so that you can move on when your symptoms are relieved or reduced enough that they no longer interfere with your daily life
Summary
Often, a person’s distress decreases when they learn to see a situation more constructively, and then they can take action and make decisions that are likely to be helpful in the long term thus, leading to a more fulfilling life. This is the goal of CBT and is achieved by identifying distortions or negative perceptions that are affecting behavior, and negative perceptions and applying techniques to correct it. CBT may be an effective treatment option when medicine alone hasn’t been effective, and it can be completed relatively quickly compared with other talking therapies.
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