What is Cognitive Behavior Therapy?

We’ve heard a lot about cognitive behavior therapy, but do we really know what it is and why it is used? Cognitive behavior therapy, also known as CBT, is the belief that our actions and feelings are caused by our thoughts rather than external things like events, situations, surroundings or other people. Through cognitive behavior therapy, it is believed that we can still change how we feel and how we react from our feelings even if the things around us (people, events, and situations) do NOT change.

Different approaches to Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Cognitive Behavior Therapy consists of more than one method or approach. The different methods may include:

1. Rational Behavior Therapy
2. Rational Emotion Therapy
3. Cognitive Therapy
4. Rational Living Therapy
5. Dialectic Behavior Therapy

What is Cognitive Behavior Therapy Like?

However, although there may be several approaches to cognitive behavior therapy, they all have the same characteristics.  Cognitive behavior therapy is the quickest form in terms of treatments required of the patient. While some types of therapies such as psychoanalysis may take many sessions that add up to years of treatment, CBT only takes 16 sessions. One reason why it’s so effective in such a short amount of time is that it involves assignments for the patient to do at home and CBT is highly instructive as far as what’s expected of the patient. The patients are informed at the very beginning that their therapy is time-limited and the ending of the therapy is an agreement between the patient and the therapist.

One of the main focuses of cognitive behavior therapy is to instill the belief in the patient that they can change how they think and, once they change, their behavior and feelings will change. This is why the homework assignments of self-counseling are so beneficial and therapeutic. A good relationship between the therapist and patient well help this belief to happen much sooner rather than later.

Although cognitive behavior therapy involves teaching people that their actions are results of their thoughts, it does not involve telling them how they are supposed to feel. The patient doesn’t want to feel the way they feel which is why they are seeking the treatment or therapy. What it teaches them is that even in the worst circumstances, they need to feel calm when they’re confronted with situations and circumstances that are undesirable or unpleasant.

Cognitive behavior therapy involves the therapist not only asking questions of the patient but having the patient ask questions of themselves. Rather than expecting the therapist to solve their problems and tell them how to feel, they’re encouraged to express change the way they think on their own. They’re also encouraged to express their goals in life and the best ways to achieve these goals. The patients learn entire new ways to think and behave in different circumstances, which is why homework assignments are so important in CBT. Home work assignments helps the patient to practice their therapy and “new” way of thinking and behaving in all areas of their life.