What is CBT

Many of you might have heard about the term CBT that is used as a form of treatment for certain disorders. But what is CBT? CBT (Cognitive behavioral therapy) is a form of psycho-therapeutic treatment that focuses on one's cognitive abilities (Thinking) and one's behavior in a combination to correct a wide range of mental illnesses. These disorders could range from addiction, phobias and anxiety to several others that we will mention later in the article. The way in which CBT techniques work is by helping a person focus on understanding negative thoughts which lead to destructive patterns of behavior and thereby help in correcting the problem. The following article will go into a little more detail about what is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and also try and understand how effective it is as a therapeutic form.

CBT and the Details

The CBT therapy has at its base on the understanding that our behavior and how we behave with people around us and in certain situations is dependent on the way in which we think. And therefore since our actions are influenced by our thoughts, if there is a change brought about in the way in which we think, there can be a change brought about in the negative behavior, in the way that it can change for the better. This therapy is a short term therapy and it chooses to correct the problems at an immediate level. Along with correcting the negative thinking patterns of behavior it also helps a person to focus on the positive factors and thereby help to manage one's problems better.

The Benefits of CBT

Cognitive behavioral therapy has therefore gained a lot of momentum and more and more people are choosing to go in for the varied CBT techniques because it is more affordable than the other available techniques and its effectiveness is high as well. Along with these two factors, the reason why it is popular is because it corrects a number of problems and does it faster than most of the other techniques available for the correction of maladaptive behavior problems. Some of the problems that the therapy focuses on correcting are depression, anxiety, phobias, stress, addictions, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), bipolar disorder, fatigue, pain, anger management issues, low self esteem, eating disorders, sexual problems, substance and alcohol abuse, sleep problems, post traumatic stress disorder and several others like trauma based CBT. It is often asked how effective is CBT in correcting all these problems and the answer is that it is very effective.

How CBT Works

Like we mentioned earlier, this therapy focuses on correcting faulty thoughts that lead to negative behavior patterns. Having negative behavior patterns has an adverse effect on the ways in which a person behaves thus affecting all aspects of his life. In the sessions that are a part of CBT, a therapist will first try and understand the underlying problem by talking to the patient. He will then help the patient identify those problems through the tool of introspection and self analysis and then slowly move on to giving him practical steps of how to correct the problem, by select exercises. For example, if a person suffers from low self esteem, the therapist might start a treatment that focuses on basic positive affirmation tools and then move onto more detailed techniques of handling low self esteem.

Cognitive behavioral therapies are one of the most effective talking therapies that are made available in today's times. The way in which it helps is very promising and has helped many individuals adjust and adapt better and promotes better mental health. In that way it a great technique to adopt for people suffering from maladaptive problems. And now that you know what is CBT, you can seriously think of starting out on it if you suffer from any of the common behavior problems.