What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is also known as CBT. It is a psychotherapeutic approach to treatment where the importance of your thoughts, emotions and behaviors are taken into consideration.
The premise of Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is that our thoughts influence our behavior and feelings without the impact of any external factors. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a talking therapy based on the cognitive model related to emotional response.
The relationship between the therapist and the client is given utmost importance in Cognitive behavioral therapy as a good trusting relationship results in better therapy sessions and longer talks. The basic idea is to help the patient change by thinking differently and taking action on those thoughts.
Cognitive behavioral therapies need constant training beyond the hour long sessions with the therapists. Achieving desired results will be a long drawn process with help from techniques learnt during training sessions and reading assignments.
Each therapy session is agenda-oriented and goal specific for the therapist. The patient does not know the goal, the therapist does and here the therapist tries through the course of the session with conditioning techniques to help achieve the patient the goal on their own.
With a general schedule of 16 sessions Cognitive behavioral therapy is highly result oriented and specific therapy. Unlike other psychoanalysis procedures and psychiatric treatments that are never ending along with being non goal oriented and open ended. CBT is a briefer and more proactive procedure.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is not mutually exclusive, there are several therapies included in Cognitive behavioral therapy like Rational living therapy, dialectic behavior therapy, cognitive therapy and rational behavior therapies.
The reason for seeking Cognitive behavioral therapy in patients generally is because they don’t want to feel and think the way they are feeling and thinking. The common misconception is that Cognitive behavioral therapy will alter their thoughts and feelings but actually CBT will only condition them to think differently.
The basic need of Cognitive behavioral therapy is to make the client calm at undesirable situations and events. Though the need to embrace and acknowledge undesirable situations is also taught in CBT.
The therapists tell the patients that a problem needs to be minimized and being upset on a problem maximizes it and doubles it. First of all it’s a problem and secondly by being upset it becomes a bigger problem. By learning how to embrace a problem without stressing minimizes the problem and allows dealing with the situation rationally with intelligence.
Called the talking therapy for this reason; the therapist promotes talking and sharing to get to the core of the patients trouble. Talking and asking questions makes the patient deal with their inner demons which they will not acknowledge otherwise.