Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an experiential supported treatment that focuses on patterns of thinking that are unsuitable to a situation, function or purpose and the beliefs that cause of this sort of thinking.  A person who is depressed may have the belief, that they are worthless, and a person with a phobia may have the belief, that they are in danger.  While the person holds these beliefs with conviction, with a therapist’s help, the individual is encouraged to view such beliefs as a proposed explanation for a phenomenon rather than facts and to test out such beliefs by running experiments. Furthermore, the persons are encouraged to monitor and log thoughts that pop into their minds (called automatic thoughts) in order to enable them to determine what patterns in thinking may exist and to develop more adaptive behavior.  People who participate in CBT can expect their therapy to be problem-focused, and goal-directed.

Studies have shown its usefulness for a variety of problems, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse disorders, and psychotic disorders.

CBT has been shown to be as useful as antidepressant medication for individuals with depression and demonstrated that it can a prevention of relapses. Patients receiving CBT for depression are encouraged to schedule activities in order to increase the amount of pleasure they experience. Also, depressed patients learn how to restructure negative thought patterns in order to interpret their environment in a less prejudiced way.  For Bipolar Disorder it is used with medication treatment and focuses on education about the disorder and understanding signs and triggers for relapse. Studies indicate that patients who receive CBT in addition to medication treatment have better results than patients who do not receive CBT as an added treatment.

CBT is a useful treatment for anxiety disorders. Patients who experience persistent panic attacks are encouraged to test out ideas they have related to the attacks, and to develop more realistic responses to such beliefs.  Patients who experience obsessions and compulsions are guided to expose themselves to what they fear and convictions surrounding their fears are identified and modified. The same is true for people with phobias. Those in treatment are exposed to what they fear and ideas that have served to maintain such fears are targeted for alteration.\

 CBT for schizophrenia has been used in the United Kingdom. While this treatment continues is not used much in the United States, the results from studies in the United Kingdom have has the interest in therapists in the U.S., and more therapists are using this treatment now. In this treatment, patients are encouraged to identify beliefs and their impact and to engage in experiments to test their belief.   The focal point of the treatment is on thought patterns that cause suffering and also on developing more realistic interpretations of events.  Delusions are treated by developing an understanding of the evidence the person uses to support the belief and encouraging the patient to recognize evidence that does not support the belief.  With verbal auditory hallucinations patients are encouraged to utilize coping mechanisms to test the controllability of auditory hallucinations.

CBT’s focus on thoughts and beliefs are applicable to a several issues.  CBT has achieved popularity both for therapists and patients