Once recognized, it is possible to bridge theory and practice by designing practical CBT exercises that help clients overcome these unwanted thoughts and make meaningful life improvements. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of talking therapy that can be used to treat people with a wide range of mental health problems, including anxiety disorders (e.g., generalized anxiety, social anxiety) or depression. Throughout the past several decades, there has been a proliferation of CBT approaches that have been individualized to specific anxiety disorder presentations (e.g., panic disorder, specific phobias, social anxiety disorder). Each disorder-specific treatment manual is written to consider unique applications of CBT strategies for the presenting disorder.

• The second stage of exposure exercises (i.e., social cost exposures) consists of having patients directly making their worst-case social anxiety scenario come true to determine how bad and intolerable it actually is.
• Most early studies were conducted on people with experimentally induced anxieties or non-clinical problems such as mild fear of snakes (Kendall & Kriss, 1983).
• Cognitive restructuring is used in conjunction with exposure exercises to reinforce the new learning and shift in perspective occurring through exposure therapy.
• Applied correctly, it can help clients learn to stop automatically trusting their thoughts as representative of reality and begin testing them for accuracy (Mills et al., 2008).

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• They are beliefs and thought patterns that are irrational, false, or inaccurate, and they have the potential to cause serious damage to our sense of self, our confidence, and our ability to succeed.
• If you feel unsure about some of these techniques, seek out additional training specifically in CBT.
• Visual cues can also be used in conjunction with other CBT techniques, such as cognitive restructuring.
• Much of what happens in a cognitive behavioral therapist’s office is cognitive restructuring, and it may be used in other therapeutic modalities as well.
• Ten percent (10%) will experience intense suffering for a prolonged period — sometimes years (Currier et al., 2008).

For example, if a client has been working on challenging the belief that they are incapable of doing something, they might be asked to take on a task that they’ve been avoiding. The goal is to gather real-world evidence that contradicts the irrational belief. In the treatment of depression, mindfulness-based CBT has been shown to reduce the risk of relapse. Clients who learned mindfulness techniques in addition to traditional CBT were better able to manage their depressive symptoms and had a lower rate of relapse compared to those who received standard CBT alone. Mindfulness practices teach individuals to observe their experiences without immediate reactivity.

The goals of grief counseling

As clients begin to dispute irrational beliefs, they can replace them with more rational alternatives. The ABC model helps clients recognize how their beliefs about a situation often amplify their emotional reactions. By identifying these beliefs, clients can begin to challenge and reframe them, which is the next step in the process. For individuals struggling with substance abuse, mindfulness-based CBT can help reduce cravings and improve recovery outcomes. By teaching clients to be more aware of their thoughts and emotions, mindfulness practices can help them better manage the triggers that lead to substance use.

Trauma Therapy: Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) or Prolonged Exposure

• For example, if a client is monitoring anxiety, the specific target might be the frequency and intensity of anxious thoughts.
• This can include logging eating behaviors for someone with an eating disorder or tracking daily levels of activity for someone with depression.
• This heightened self-awareness is crucial for identifying and challenging negative thought patterns, a key component of CBT.

This method of addressing problems and promoting healing constitutes the bulk of CBT sessions and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy offers dozens of techniques and exercises that can be applied to nearly any client scenario. When we think negatively, we often feel negatively and are likely to behave in ways that are not conducive to our health and wellbeing. Cognitive restructuring requires challenging negative thoughts instead of simply accepting them as true or unchangeable. There are so many ways our thinking can play tricks on us that it’s almost surprising that we think clearly most of the time!

What is cognitive behavioral therapy?

Those in the midst of it typically pass from a period of life-altering loss to one of relative stability (Neimeyer, 2015). Find out about the 7 areas of life where simple changes can make a big difference. Join our email programme to get expert advice and practical tips to help you deal with anxiety. Finding new ways to work through your problems can make them feel more manageable.