What is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured form of therapy that uses skills and tools to help individuals achieve symptom relief and reach their goals. Decades of research have shown that CBT is an effective treatment for a wide range of psychological difficulties, including anxiety, depression, OCD, phobias, PTSD, substance abuse, pain management, insomnia, adjustment to medical illness, and more.

In CBT, your psychologist will work with you to understand how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors work together and impact each other. The goal of CBT is to help you identify and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors that contribute to distress and problematic patterns in your life. It is a collaborative process that is focused on creating long-lasting and meaningful change.

CBT is a short-term, focused treatment. Your psychologist will provide you with relevant information and specific techniques to help you address and manage the challenges you face in your daily life. You will have the opportunity to practice these techniques and new skills in session and between sessions, and your psychologist will guide you through implementing these skills when you need them most. CBT offers structure and is also flexible to accommodate the needs of any patient.

Common techniques of CBT include:

1. Behavioral Activation – uses a behavioral approach to maintain routines and structure to keep mood stable; ensures that individuals are regularly engaging in pleasant, rewarding, and mastery activities to maintain positive mood and self-esteem

2. Cognitive Restructuring – focuses specifically on untrue, unhelpful, or distorted thoughts that drive emotion and behavior; uses evidence-testing to replace them with realistic and helpful thoughts

3. Behavioral Experiments – identifies unhelpful behaviors and experiments with more adaptive behavior; uses data and outcomes to evaluate helpfulness or unhelpfulness of behaviors; improves coping abilities with life’s stressors

4. Exposure-Based Techniques – uses gradual exposure to feared stimuli to increase comfort, learning and tolerance of avoided stimuli

If you are interested in CBT, click the button below to contact us for a consultation with Dr. Bajaj, our resident CBT psychologist.