What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
As mentioned, CBT is a type of therapy utilized by many different psychologists to address a wide variety of psychological problems facing their patients. CBT can be used in a variety of situations, as it is effectively all about recognition, action, and prevention of symptoms arising from various stressful situations.
When utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy, psychotherapists will often begin by getting a full account from their patients of what the problems are that they face. CBT is more about you as a patient, rather than your therapist telling you what to do about your afflictions. CBT will involve a lot of introspection, a lot of learning about yourself and your mental anguish, and a lot of understanding more about what you can do for yourself when faced with situations that trigger your mental responses.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is all about making you cognizant of your own behaviors that contribute to your mental problems. During your sessions undergoing CBT, you’re likely to be asked to think a lot about what your problems are, where they come from, and how you deal with them currently. This is an effort by your psychotherapist to build an understanding and to help you build an understanding of what you’re going through before they give you suggestions on how you might better cope with your afflictions.
After they and you have a solid understanding of what your stresses are, they can begin to provide you with some regimented treatments that you may find effective. Things like meditation, mindfulness exercises, instituting healthy coping mechanisms – some people go for a run or go boxing at a club when they need to blow off steam. Managing your stresses is another big element of the goal of CBT, along with things like instilling a sense of assertiveness, if (for example) you suffer from anxiety or confidence-related mental illnesses. You’ll learn to identify what your stressors are, and how you can reshape your negative thoughts or emotions and turn them into positive thinking or feelings.
What Can CBT Help With?
Given that CBT is all about cognition, CBT is an excellent option for people who suffer from a variety of mental illnesses. It is particularly useful, however, for people who suffer from anxiety, depression, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. The goal is to aid patients in their desire to reorganize their negative thoughts and control their reactions to them.
If you suffer from any of the above mental disorders, or even have any of the above-mentioned symptoms but are undiagnosed, it’s important that you obtain a diagnosis and seek the appropriate help. CBT might be able to help you process your thoughts and feelings, recognize and react differently to stressful situations.