What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Check out Online-Therapy.com's services via my Affiliate link: Online Therapy and get 20% discount! What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? In this video Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo, PhD will talk about the basics of CBT and how it works. CBT describes several therapies that all have a similar approach to solving problems. They can range from anxiety or depression to insomnia or relationship problems. CBT is a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapy that focuses on the thoughts, images, beliefs and attitudes that we hold (our cognitive processes) and how they relate to the way we behave, as a way of dealing with emotional problems. CBT is based on the idea that your thoughts are what cause your feelings and behaviors, not external stimuli like people, situations and events. It’s not the stimulus itself that directly creates an emotional response. It is your evaluation of your thought about that stimulus. The benefit of this insight is that you can change the way you think, so that you feel and act better, even if the situation hasn’t changed. How CBT will help you: - CBT HELPS YOU TO IDENTIFY AND CHALLENGE YOUR SPECIFIC PROBLEMS CBT is a problem specific and pragmatic approach, because it helps you to identify your specific problems and then provides tools, so that you can work with them. CBT differs from other therapies, because the sections have a structure, rather than the person talking/thinking freely about whatever comes to mind. In the next section, you will identify your specific problems that contribute to making you feel unhappy, and set up goals to work towards. The problems may be troublesome symptoms, such as sleeping badly, not being able to socialize with friends or difficulty concentrating on reading or work. They could also be life problems, such as being unhappy at work, having trouble dealing with an adolescent child or being in an unhappy marriage. - CBT TEACHES YOU TO THINK IN A DIFFERENT WAY CBT is particularly well-developed and empirically supported (research supported). This is important when clients frequently experience excessively negative thoughts which arise automatically, even in response to stimuli which might otherwise be experienced as positive. CBT helps you to understand the importance of thinking and how it affects how you feel and what you do. It is one of the core fundamentals of this online therapy program. It will help you to work on your problems and to become happier. CBT will teach you skills for dealing with your problems. This includes learning to record your thoughts and to look at them more realistically. You will do this in your journal. It will help you to break the downward spiral of your negative mood. - CBT HELPS YOU TO UNLEARN UNWANTED REACTIONS CBT is based on the scientifically supported assumption that most emotional and behavioral reactions are learned. Therefore, the goal of therapy is to help you unlearn your unwanted reactions and to learn a new way of reacting. The educational emphasis of CBT has an additional benefit, in that it leads to long-term results. When people understand how and why they are doing well, they know what to do to continue doing so.