Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that helps people learn how to identify and change disturbing thoughts that cause negative effects on their behavior and emotions. CBT has been shown in many studies to lead to significant improvements in functioning and quality of life, and has proven effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and substance use problems, eating disorders and serious mental health problems.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on changing automatic negative thoughts that can cause and exacerbate emotional problems such as depression and anxiety. These negative thoughts, which can occur spontaneously, have negative effects on a person's mental health. Therefore, through CBT, negative thoughts are identified, questioned and replaced with more objective, realistic thoughts.
In Which Situations Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Applied?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can contribute to solving many health problems. These can be listed as follows.
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Bipolar Disorder
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Anxiety Disorders
- Panic Disorder
- Hypochondriasis
- Family/Marriage Therapies and Couple Therapy
- Sexual Dysfunctions
- Personality Disorders
- Behavior Disorders
- Sleep Disorder
- Eating Disorders
- Addiction
- Depression
- Social Phobia
- Anger Management
- Stress
- Phobias
- Panic Attacks
How is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Applied?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is usually carried out in a limited number of sessions (between 5 and 20) with a specialized therapist or psychotherapist. During the therapy, the person is taught how to identify useful and unrealistically useless thoughts. It also helps to find new behavioral patterns by changing negative thought patterns. The therapies focus on discovering new ways of coping with everyday challenges.
The therapist may assign tasks to help the person get rid of negative thoughts. The tasks are aimed at trivializing negative and untrue thoughts. In addition, the person is taught proper breathing and relaxation techniques.
At the beginning of the therapy, the difficulties experienced, symptoms noticed and worries that the person has are discussed. It is also important to share any illness with the therapist in line with the goals of the therapy.
Depending on the person's situation, the therapist may ask a number of questions. A past event, fears or phobias, disturbing behaviors or thoughts and feelings are discussed. These issues are resolved together with the therapist, who observes how the person reacts to the difficulties in his/her life.
When progress is made interactively through question and answer sessions, the therapist encourages the person to draw attention to how they react to difficult situations. The person may be asked to keep a diary to identify the feelings, thoughts and behaviors that cause negativity.
The therapist helps the person to change negative feelings, thoughts and habits. It enables the person to change his/her perspective on events and to adopt positive thought patterns and behaviors. The person can apply these skills to situations they may encounter in the future.
Benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Thanks to CBT, people can control their thoughts, moods and behaviors more than in the past. In addition, the skills that the person gains after treatment provide a controlled approach to the problems that arise in the future.
Thebenefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be listed as follows:
- It helps to develop healthier thought patterns by recognizing thoughts that negatively affect emotions and moods and are often unrealistic
- Helps to learn techniques for coping with stressful life situations
- Helps to identify ways to manage emotions
- Provides resolution of relationship conflicts and better communication skills
- Increases self-esteem
- Provides anger control
- Improves coping skills
The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT helps to become more aware of feelings, thoughts and behaviors. It is a problem-oriented method compared to other therapy practices. Although it cannot eliminate stressful situations, it teaches how to respond to them and makes the person feel better.
Many studies show that CBT is as effective as or more effective than other psychological therapies or psychiatric medications. By focusing on negative emotions, the therapist helps the person to acquire new skills that will help to eliminate these emotions.