Looking for a straight-forward way to cope with stress, anxiety and depression?
CBT Therapy
Have you been told by your doctor to try CBT?
Are you looking to fill your toolbox with coping strategies for anxiety and depression?
Does the idea of traditional talk therapy not suit you?
CBT might be the right option for you. Put simply, CBT is more about solutions and building skills for addressing problems as they arise.
What is CBT Therapy?
CBT therapy, or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a type of therapy that focuses on helping identify and change negative thought patterns and behaviours. CBT can help manage stress, anxiety, and other overwhelming emotions, and is based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are interconnected.
An important idea in CBT, is that by changing one of these aspects, you can affect changing in the others.
Who Can Benefit From CBT?
Those struggling with anxiety and overwhelming worry about the future. A CBT counsellor can support them in developing a more balanced perspective and releasing their tendency towards black-and-white thinking.
Those struggling with depression, and overwhelming pessimistic thoughts about the past. In fact, CBT is all about coping mechanisms for observable behaviours and challenges for when you want to focus on the here and now. If you struggle with digging into root causes (like trauma or attachment) or talking about the past, CBT is a great tool for change.
Those struggling with phobias. A central strategy of treatment for phobias is systematic and gradual exposure to the feared stimulus. In CBT, an individual struggling with a phobia will address the associated feelings and thoughts before beginning exposure therapy. It will be a slow process geared toward their needs and comfort level.
Those struggling with PTSD and OCD.
Note: CBT is a great tool for behavioural or thinking changes, but because it doesn’t address the root cause of these issues, they’re likely to resurface in other ways until the person takes a closer look at the whole picture.
CBT is an effective piece of the therapy puzzle. It is most often done alongside other therapies to build a unique treatment plan for each individual client and their personal goals.
Ultimately, CBT is a wonderful add-on to other therapies. It can help with observable steps towards change. Once our clients are more stable regarding their primary issues, other therapies may be brought in to address the person holistically and offer them tools for meaningful and long-lasting change.
Core Principles of CBT Therapy
Challenging Cognitive Distortions
Cognitive distortions are those little tricks our minds play on us, making things seem worse than they really are. The good news? CBT therapy can help!
Your therapist will educate you about common cognitive distortions like black-and-white thinking or catastrophizing and will help you practice reframing these thoughts using evidence-based reasoning.
If you ever get stuck, your therapist may use a technique called Socratic questioning, which helps you challenge those irrational beliefs head-on through a series of questions.
Main Elements of CBT
Identifying and Changing Negative Thought Patterns
One of the key elements of CBT is learning to recognize those pesky negative thoughts that like to sneak into our minds.
Your therapist will teach you how to spot these automatic negative thoughts and show you techniques like cognitive restructuring to help you challenge and modify them.
CBT always has homework assignments to track and challenge these negative thought patterns outside of your therapy sessions. You need to be ready to dedicate outside time so you can:
Track your thoughts
Rate your feelings
Observe and record behaviours
If you can’t do that because of either time or energy reasons, then CBT therapy isn’t the right therapy for you.
Encouraging Positive Behaviours Through Behavioural Activation
Behavioural activation (BA) is a core component of CBT therapy that focuses on helping clients do activities that are meaningful and enjoyable to them! Ultimately, this helps improve their mood and overall well-being.
BA is based on the idea that when people are depressed or anxious, they often withdraw from activities that they used to love, which can further exacerbate their symptoms.
BA techniques in CBT therapy can be minimal or intense and can include things like activity monitoring, scheduling, behavioural experiments, social skills training, and problem-solving training.
Techniques and Strategies in CBT
Let's dive into some of the most common techniques and strategies used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
Psychoeducation
Psychoeducation is all about teaching clients about the cognitive model of CBT therapy.
The goal is to help clients understand the connection between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and how these factors contribute to their mental health issues.
Psychoeducation can serve many purposes, including helping clients understand their condition, educating them on their treatment options, helping them foster coping skills, promoting self-efficacy, and reducing the overall stigma of the mental health issues they’re facing.
Psychoeducation can be done verbally, through written materials, videos, or interactive activities. Typically, it’s integrated into an overall treatment plan tailored specifically to a client’s needs and preferences.
Behavioural Experiments
Through behavioural experiments, you and your therapist will collaboratively design experiments to test the validity of your beliefs. Then, you’ll gather evidence through direct experience, giving you a firsthand look at whether your beliefs hold true. Let’s explore what this actually looks like!
🔎 Example: Perhaps a client comes to CBT to manage their social anxiety. They believe that others always notice and negatively judge their actions in social situations.
Their therapist might design an experiment to test this belief, which involves asking their client to engage in a social activity, such as joining a group conversation at a party and then observing and recording the reactions of others.
The client would then review their observations with the therapist to determine if their belief was accurate or if there were alternative explanations for the reactions they observed.
Through this experiment, the client may discover that others did not notice or judge their actions as negatively as they’d believed, which could lead to a change in their belief and a reduction in their social anxiety.
This process helps the individual challenge and modify their negative beliefs through direct experience — a key principle of CBT!
Thought Records
Thought records are another powerful tool used in CBT to help clients keep track of their thoughts, emotions, and associated behaviours.
If you choose to venture into CBT therapy, your therapist may guide you in using structured forms to analyze and challenge cognitive distortions — the sneaky tricks your mind plays on you. By reviewing thought records, you'll both identify patterns and monitor your progress over time, like keeping a journal of your journey to better mental health!
Exposure Therapy
If you've ever felt anxious about facing your fears, exposure therapy might be just what you need (but it doesn’t have to be as scary as you might think!).
Your therapist will gradually expose you to feared situations or stimuli in a controlled manner, helping you confront your fears head-on. They will then teach you relaxation and coping techniques to manage anxiety during exposure.
They'll also monitor and adjust the exposure exercises based on your feedback and progress. Unlike trying to do this by yourself in the real world, you’re facing your fears in a healthy way, with a support system right by your side.
CBT Therapy vs. DBT
Let’s take a closer look at CBT therapy vs DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy).
CBT focuses on identifying and modifying dysfunctional thoughts and behaviours. It’s meant to help you break free from negative thinking patterns and behaviours that hold you back.
DBT leans more towards emphasizing acceptance and change, particularly for individuals with borderline personality disorder.
While both therapies share some techniques, like mindfulness and emotion regulation, they differ in their overall treatment goals and emphasis on acceptance. So, depending on your needs and preferences, one therapy might be a better fit for you than the other.
Explore Ontario CBT Therapy at Access Therapy
Access Therapy offers a range of CBT-based interventions tailored specifically to your individual needs. If one of these teachings or strategies sticks out to you, then our team of licensed therapists would be happy to help you explore how CBT therapy can help.
Contact us today to schedule your free therapy consultation and begin your journey toward improved mental well-being.
Your brighter future starts now. 🙌
CBT Therapy In Hamilton
Contact us today to schedule your free therapy consultation and begin your journey toward improved mental well-being.