What is CBT?
Many of you might have heard about the term CBT that is used as a form of treatment for certain disorders. But what is CBT? CBT (Cognitive behavioral therapy) is a form of psycho-therapeutic treatment that focuses on one’s cognitive abilities (Thinking) and one’s behavior in a combination to correct a wide range of mental illnesses. These disorders could range from addiction, phobias and anxiety to several others. The way in which CBT techniques work is by helping a person focus on understanding negative thoughts which lead to destructive patterns of behavior and thereby help in correcting the problem.
What is CBT ~ Details
The CBT approach has, at its base, the understanding that our behavior and how we behave with people around us and in certain situations is dependent on the way in which we think. And therefore since our actions are influenced by our thoughts, if there is a change brought about in the way in which we think, there can be a change brought about in the negative behavior, in the way that it can change for the better. Along with correcting the negative thinking patterns of behavior it also helps a person to focus on the positive factors and thereby help to manage one’s problems better.
The Benefits of CBT
Cognitive behavioral therapy has gained a lot of momentum because its effectiveness is high among adolescents and young adults in treatment. CBT assists in correcting a number of personal issues and does it faster than most of the other techniques available for the correction of maladaptive behavior problems. Some of the problems that the therapy focuses on correcting are depression, anxiety, phobias, stress, addictions, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), bipolar disorder, fatigue, pain, anger management issues, low self esteem, eating disorders, sexual problems, substance and alcohol abuse, sleep problems, post traumatic stress disorder and several others like trauma based CBT. It is often asked how effective is CBT in correcting all these problems and the answer is that it is very effective.
What is CBT ~ How it Works
Like we mentioned earlier, this therapy focuses on correcting faulty thoughts that lead to negative behavior patterns. Having negative behavior patterns has an adverse effect on the ways in which a person behaves thus affecting all aspects of his life. In the sessions that are a part of CBT, a counselor will first try and understand the underlying problem by talking to the patient. They will then help the patient identify those problems through the tool of introspection and self analysis and then slowly move on to giving him practical steps of how to correct the problem, by select exercises. For example, if a person suffers from low self esteem, the counselor might start a treatment that focuses on basic positive affirmation tools and then move onto more detailed techniques of handling low self esteem.
Cognitive Behavior Therapies are one of the most effective talking therapies that are made available in today’s times. The way in which it helps is very promising and has helped many individuals adjust and adapt better and promotes better mental health. In that way its a great technique to adopt for people suffering from maladaptive problems.