What is Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy?
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an active and action-oriented approach which helps clients learn skills to manage and change problematic thinking (cognition), behavior, and—as a result— emotions. CBT therapists do this through a variety of techniques and strategies.
Evidence-Based: CBT is the most empirically tested of all the psychotherapeutic approaches and has been shown to be one of the most effective therapies for a wide variety of client concerns such as:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Phobias
- Substance abuse
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Changing Unhelpful Thoughts: Imagine you just lost your job. You’re understandably upset, but you allow mood to overtake you. You start thinking things like “this is awful,” “my reputation is ruined,” “I shouldn’t be unemployed,” and “what a terrible experience.”
As your mood spirals downward even more, you begin thinking things like: “I’m such a loser for getting fired,” “I’m never going to get a job like that again,” and even “my life is over.”
A CBT therapist asks questions to help you take a rational look at some of these beliefs: “how many people live their entire lives without getting fired?”
If you answer something like 40%, the therapist may point out that based on your logic, 60% of the world must be losers—a statement that appears ridiculous. Once you start understanding the irrational or unhelpful aspects of some of the ways you are thinking, you can start changing them to helpful, rational, and healthy thoughts such as: “while I wish I had not been let go, I will recover in due time just like most people who change jobs do. Besides, I might end up getting a better job.”
Skills Training: If you’ve never successfully juggled in your life and I gave you 4 balls and asked you to juggle them, I bet you’d end up dropping them within a few seconds! There is no shame in this: you are among many who have never had the experience of learning how to juggle. Similarly, there are many helpful coping strategies and skills that can help you manage your mood, communicate more effectively with others, and function better in your day-to-day life. CBT therapists help teach these skills and strategies in ways that ‘stick’ and in ways which can be used throughout the week and not just in the therapy office. Some examples include: relaxation/ breathing training, social skills training, self-reward, problem solving, mindfulness, visualization, communication training, exposure therapy, behavioural activation, and assertiveness training.
Action-Oriented & Brief: CBT therapists don’t spend a lot of time digging into their clients’ pasts but stay in the here-and-now instead. While understanding the roots of your problems is important, this understanding is only valuable when it can be used to help guide action steps: actual techniques that you learn and put into practice in your day-to-day life. This is how you can change your way of thinking, behaving, and ultimately improve your way of feeling. CBT’s focus on solving problems also makes it a brief form of therapy: usually around 8-12 sessions.
Joshua Adams, R.Psych
Authentic Psychology