What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness.

CBT is based on several core principles:

• Psychological problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhealthy ways of thinking.

• Psychological problems, are based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior.

• People suffering from psychological problems can learn better ways of coping with them, thereby relieving their symptoms and becoming more effective in their lives.

Treatment usually involves changing thinking patterns. These strategies include:

• Learning to recognize one's distortions in thinking that are creating problems, and then to reevaluate them in the light of reality.

• Gaining a better understanding of the behavior and motivation of others.

• Using problem solving skills to cope with difficult and uncomfortable situations.

• Learning to develop a greater sense of confidence in one's own abilities.

Treatment also usually involves effort to change behavioral patterns. These strategies might include:

• Facing one's fears instead of avoiding them.

• Use role playing to prepare for potentially problematic interactions with others.

• Learning to calm one's mind and relax one's body.

Benefits of CBT include:

• It gives people hope about their condition.

• It helps people develop self-esteem.

• It develops more rational thought process.

• Helps people relax.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy places an emphasis on helping individuals be their own therapists. Through exercises and "homework" patients develop coping skills where they can learn to change their own thinking, problematic emotions, and behavior.