8/22/2022

Cognitive Behavior
Therapy ¢ Cognitive behavior therapy is a school of psychotherapy
that aims to help people overcome their emotional
problems.

COMBINING SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, AND

BEHAVIOR

¢ Cognitive means mental processes like thinking. The ¢ CBT is a powerful treatment because it combines
word ‘cognitive’ refers to everything that goes on in scientific, philosophical, and behavioral aspects into one
your mind including dreams, memories, images, comprehensive approach to understanding and
thoughts, and attention. overcoming common psychological problems.
¢ Behavior refers to everything that you do. This
includes what you say, how you try to solve problems,
how you act, and avoidance. Behavior refers to both
action and inaction, (biting your tongue instead of
speaking your mind is still a behavior even though you
are trying not to do something).
¢ Therapy used to describe a systematic approach to
combating a problem, illness, or irregular condition.

1
8/22/2022

¢ Getting scientific. CBT is scientific not only in the sense ¢ Getting active. As the name suggests, CBT also
that it has been tested and developed through numerous strongly emphasizes behavior.
scientific studies, but also in the sense that it encourages
¢ Many CBT techniques involve changing the way you
clients to become more like scientists.
think and feel by modifying the way you behave.
¢ During CBT, you may develop the ability to treat your
Examples include gradually becoming more active if
thoughts as theories and hunches about reality to be tested
you’re depressed and lethargic, or facing your fears step
(what scientists call hypotheses), rather than as facts.
by step if you’re anxious.
¢ Getting philosophical. CBT recognizes that people hold
values and beliefs about themselves, the world, and other ¢ CBT also places emphasis on mental behaviors, such as

people. worrying and where you focus your attention.

¢ One of the aims of CBT is to help people develop flexible,
non-extreme, and self-helping beliefs that help them adapt to
reality and pursue their goals.

¢ Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques ¢ Are as effective as medication in treating many psychological
have been developed from extensive research. disorders and often more effective in effecting long-lasting
change and preventing relapse
¢ Studies indicate that treatments for
¢ Are particularly effective for common mental health problems
psychological disorders based on CBT principles: such as anxiety, depression, panic disorder, phobias
(including agoraphobia and social phobia), stress, eating
disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic
stress disorder and difficulties with anger.
¢ Can help if you have a low opinion of yourself, or physical
health problems like pain or fatigue
¢ Can also be useful in helping to manage more severe mental
health problems like bipolar disorder (previously called
‘manic-depression’) and psychosis.

2
8/22/2022

PROGRESSING FROM PROBLEMS TO GOALS

PRINCIPLES
¢ CBT works on the principle that our behavior and ¢ CBT gives you the tools to develop a focused approach.
emotions depend to a large degree on our perception of ¢ CBT aims to help you move from defined emotional and
what we understand is happening. behavioral problems towards your goals of how you’d
¢ What we think and anticipate can greatly affect our like to feel and behave.
reaction to events and people. ¢ CBT is a goal-directed, systematic, problem-solving
¢ Having understood what you are thinking and how to approach to emotional problems.
deal with your thoughts, it is possible to train yourself
to respond in a different way.
¢ This new style of thinking and behaving can then lead
to a potentially more satisfying way of life, becoming
part of your normal lifestyle.

PRINCIPLE NO. 1. PRINCIPLE NO. 2.

¢ Cognitive behavior therapy is based on an ever- ¢ Cognitive behavior therapy requires a sound
evolving formulation of patients’ problems and an therapeutic alliance.
individual conceptualization of each patient in
cognitive terms.

3
8/22/2022

PRINCIPLE NO. 3. PRINCIPLE NO. 4.

¢ Cognitive behavior therapy emphasizes ¢ Cognitive behavior therapy is goal oriented and
collaboration and active participation. problem focused.

PRINCIPLE NO. 5. PRINCIPLE NO. 6.

¢ Cognitive behavior therapy initially emphasizes ¢ Cognitive behavior therapy is educative, aims to
the present. teach the patient to be her own therapist, and
¢ The treatment of most patients involves a strong focus emphasizes relapse prevention.
on current problems and on specific situations that are
distressing to them.

4
8/22/2022

PRINCIPLE NO. 7 PRINCIPLE NO. 8

¢ Cognitive behavior therapy aims to be time limited. ¢ Cognitive behavior therapy sessions are structured.
¢ Many straightforward patients with depression and anxiety ¢ No matter what the diagnosis or stage of treatment,
disorders are treated for six to 14 sessions. following a certain structure in each session maximizes
¢ Therapists’ goals are to provide symptom relief, facilitate a efficiency and effectiveness. Structure includes an
remission of the disorder, help patients resolve their most ¢ Introductory part (doing a mood check, briefly reviewing
pressing problems, and teach them skills to avoid relapse. the week, collaboratively setting an agenda for the session),
¢ Some patients require 1 or 2 years of therapy (or possibly ¢ A middle part (reviewing homework, discussing problems
longer) to modify very rigid dysfunctional beliefs and on the agenda, setting new homework, summarizing), and
patterns of behavior that contribute to their chronic distress. ¢ A final part (eliciting feedback).
¢ Other patients with severe mental illness may need periodic ¢ Following this format makes the process of therapy more
treatment for a very long time to maintain stabilization. understandable to patients and increases the likelihood that
they will be able to do self-therapy after termination.

PRINCIPLE NO. 9
¢ Cognitive behavior therapy teaches patients to identify, ¢ Therapists also create experiences, called
evaluate, and respond to their dysfunctional thoughts behavioral experiments, for patients to directly
and beliefs. test their thinking (e.g., “If I even look at a picture
¢ Patients can have many dozens or even hundreds of of a spider, I’ll get so anxious I won’t be able to
automatic thoughts a day that affect their mood, behavior, think”).
and/or physiology (the last is especially pertinent to anxiety).
¢ Therapist engage in collaborative empiricism.
¢ Therapists help patients identify key cognitions and adopt
¢ Therapists do not generally know in advance to
more realistic, adaptive perspectives, which leads patients to
feel better emotionally, behave more functionally, and/or what degree a patient’s automatic thought is
decrease their physiological arousal through the process of valid or invalid, but together they test the
guided discovery, using questioning (often labeled or patient’s thinking to develop more helpful and
mislabeled as “Socratic questioning”) to evaluate their accurate responses.
thinking (rather than persuasion, debate, or lecturing).

5
8/22/2022

PRINCIPLE NO. 10
¢ Cognitive behavior therapy uses a variety of
techniques to change thinking, mood, and
behavior.
¢ Although cognitive strategies such as Socratic
questioning and guided discovery are central to
cognitive behavior therapy, behavioral and problem-
solving techniques are essential, as are techniques from
other orientations that are implemented within a
cognitive framework.