What You Need To Know About Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Over the years, psychology has taken a wide variety of approaches to understanding and treating human behavior. Each approach has its theoretical basis and practical applications. For more than three decades, cognitive behavioral therapy has proven to be one of the most effective psychotherapeutic methods.

Psychologists have successfully used it to treat many types of problems. After all, it is a flexible and efficient option. It can bring about significant changes in a short time. The different techniques also give it a lot of flexibility to adapt it to the person and the problem at hand.

The Origins of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Trends in psychology adapt and change over the years. Two of these trends, cognitivism and behaviorism, are at the heart of the approach we discuss today. That is why we decided to first tell you a little about each of these theories.

Behaviorism

Behaviorism is mainly interested in visible behavior. The subject of research is behavior that is observable and measurable.

This train of thought believes that behavior is a response to certain stimuli and that it increases or decreases in frequency based on the consequences. So you can change someone’s behavior by changing the relationship between stimulus, reaction and consequence.

Here’s an example: People with a phobia of dogs have associated dogs with fear. Therefore, if they see a dog, they want to run away. If you can break that association, dogs will no longer be an aversive stimulant.

The person then no longer has to run away from it. Another example: if you want your child to eat more vegetables, you should reward him every time he eats vegetables.

Cognitivism

This psychological approach focuses on studying cognitions, or thoughts and mental processes. It is interested in understanding how people interpret and process the information they receive.

The basis of cognitivism is the idea that you perceive reality not as it is, but as you are. Each person has their internal processes. These processes give a different meaning to the reality they perceive.

Here’s an example: you call a friend and they don’t answer. You might think he didn’t hear your call, or you might think he didn’t want to talk to you because he doesn’t actually like you. The reality is the same, but the internal process is completely different.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is therefore a combination of the above-mentioned schools of thought. It connects thoughts with behavior. According to this approach, there is an intrinsic relationship between thoughts, emotions and behavior. Changes to one of these components therefore affect the others.

This therapy uses several techniques designed to modify one of the three elements, knowing that the changes will affect the other two. For example:

• Cognitive restructuring is a technique based on helping the individual change their beliefs or thoughts. It invites them to evaluate the truth about what they think and to find more adaptive alternatives. Once you change the way you interpret reality, you change the way you feel and act.

• Exposure therapy is all about behavioral change. It encourages the patient to stop avoiding what they fear and confront it. When they change their behavior and deal with their fear, they realize that the fear is unfounded and then change their related beliefs and emotions.
• Relaxation techniques focus on changing emotions. They help people with emotional self-regulation and help them manage their activation level. When their emotions change, their thoughts become less catastrophic and they change their behavior to face their problems instead of running away from them.

Conclusion

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a complete, flexible and effective approach. It can help patients with a wide range of disorders and conditions achieve significant improvements in a short time. Not only that, it turns out it’s the psychological approach with the most scientific evidence.

However, if you’re considering therapy, it’s always a good idea to explore all of the options available and choose the one you most identify with.