When discussing mental or emotional issues, it isn’t long before the term CBT or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is mentioned. In the past decades, CBT has been known to provide effective solutions for people with depression, anxiety, anger outbursts, insomnia, sexual issues and many others. The main concept is to improve the patient’s thinking pattern (cognition) and behaviours to improve their mental condition. When implemented properly, CBT can have lasting impacts on our well-being and emotions.
If you have heard the term CBT and not understood just what it meant and what Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is or what it can do for you, keep reading to learn more about CBT.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Explained
Cognition- the cognitive component of CBT is related to core beliefs, self-talk, mental images and daily thoughts. The more negative and threatening our thoughts are, the more anxious we will become. When we are feeling depressed, we could start to feel uncertain about our future. Frustration could emerge, especially if we start to realise the hopelessness of our situation. With CBT, we will be directed to correctly and positively interpret things that happen around us. Therapists can show the proper way of thinking, even if we are facing troubles and issues. Often, we will blow things out of proportion, when in reality, it isn’t as bad as we think. If you use words like ‘always’ and ‘never’ often in your self-talk, then you may over-generalize things.
Behaviour- our behaviours are physical and mental responses to any emotional and cognition trigger. Therapists can determine whether you have conditioned responses to certain triggers. Repeated exposure to specific objects or situation may trigger some behavioural problems. Avoidance, addiction or impulsiveness are mental factors that strongly influence our behaviors. CBT is aimed to make people feel more confident and more in control of their lives.
Therapy- CBT can help people understand their situations better. Vicious cycles could get worse and the most effective treatment must be determined as quickly as possible. Therapists need to check daily behaviors, thoughts, interpersonal relationships, emotions and physiology to know how to break the cycles. Any experienced therapist knows that a treatment can be difficult, emotional and time-consuming. CBT is about collaboration between therapists and clients and the treatments should be based on evidence, not emotion.
Contact Oxford CBT To Learn More
To learn more about cognitive behavioural therapy, contact Oxford CBT today and speak with the leader in cognitive behavioural therapy and therapy for conditions such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders for children and adults.
If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to share it on your favourite social media sites.