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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?
Through cognitive behavioural therapy, people can explore the intrinsic relationship between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. When an individual shifts any of these three components, they can initiate change in the others.
People with anxiety, depression, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other mental health conditions often struggle with negative thought patterns that influence their emotions and actions. CBT can help individuals examine these patterns, reframe their thoughts, and adopt behaviours that better serve them over time.
CBT is a highly established and evidence-based treatment that has been clinically proven to be effective amongst many populations and vulnerabilities. This approach to therapy offers a clear structure and includes disorder-specific protocols, enabling a CBT therapist to tailor treatment plans around clients’ specific needs and goals. CBT can also help people develop coping mechanisms that will allow them to navigate stressful situations without falling back into harmful thought patterns.
Many people assume that addressing mental health struggles involves delving deep into childhood trauma and rehashing the past. Their hesitancy to open up these old wounds holds them back from seeking professional help. However, CBT emphasises dealing with these issues in the present, and individuals can focus on tackling problems as they affect them now. The action-oriented nature of CBT makes it a highly beneficial modality for people who would prefer to direct their attention to the “here and now” in counselling.
How Does Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Work?
In CBT sessions, a therapist will guide their client in addressing specific negative beliefs that are holding them back. They might experience automatic, detrimental thoughts in certain situations. For example, concerns about being late to an appointment could spiral into catastrophic fears about disappointing others or ruining relationships. Therefore, they might cancel appointments or arrive so early that it disrupts their schedule for the day.
A counsellor applying CBT would help the client question these assumptions. The client would examine the probability of a particular consequence playing out and ask themself how they would respond. When they break down the logical outcomes of making minor mistakes, they’ll find that these “worst-case” scenarios are highly unlikely to occur. As they rewrite these thought patterns, they will naturally experience lower levels of distress, which will positively affect their behaviour.
A therapist will provide clients with customised CBT homework assignments based on their symptoms. Clients who are committed to keeping up with these homework assignments and integrating healing strategies into their lives outside of sessions will generally experience the best results from CBT. For instance, if a client is struggling with anxiety, their therapist might ask them to monitor situations that prompt anxious thoughts so that they can prioritise addressing related behaviours in their next session.
Who Can Benefit From CBT?
People with anxiety experience overwhelming worry about the future, which can lead to debilitating mental and physical symptoms. A CBT counsellor can support them in developing a more balanced perspective and releasing their tendency towards black-and-white thinking. CBT can also benefit people with depression. Clients will receive assistance in identifying pessimistic thoughts and support in challenging them while adopting new, more helpful thought patterns.
A therapist specialising in CBT can also support people with phobias. A central strategy of treatment for phobias is systematic and gradual exposure to the feared stimulus. In CBT, an individual struggling with a phobia will address the associated feelings and thoughts before beginning exposure therapy. It will be a slow process geared toward their needs and comfort level. People with PTSD, OCD, and other conditions can also find relief through CBT.
Note: CBT is a great tool for behavioural or thinking changes, but because it doesn’t address the root cause of these issues, they’re likely to resurface in other ways until the person takes a closer look at the whole picture.
CBT is an effective piece of the therapy puzzle. It is most often done alongside other therapies to build a unique treatment plan for each individual client and their personal goals.
Our Background In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
At Access Therapy, we have several clinicians on staff who can incorporate CBT into therapeutic treatment. Our clinicians have completed their academic credentials in Ontario, Canada, and are currently registered psychotherapists in the province. Some of our clinicians have been practising CBT for nearly a decade, while others have trained in this modality more recently.
Whether working through a session-by-session protocol or incorporating elements of CBT with a client, clinicians can utilise the principles of CBT in a way that feels authentic to their therapeutic style. Many people benefit from working with a therapist who applies an eclectic approach, which involves integrating CBT into a course of treatment that suits their unique needs.
Why We Offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
CBT has been repeatedly proven to offer significant improvements for folks experiencing anxiety and depression in anywhere from five to twenty sessions. (1) While there is no set timeline for CBT, and some people will choose to engage in therapy for a longer period of time, many people feel motivated to commit to healing because they notice improvements after only a few sessions.
Furthermore, people may hesitate to seek counselling because they do not want to dive into childhood trauma or difficult events in their personal history. CBT allows people to work on addressing their thoughts, emotions, and habits in the present rather than looking back into the past. Many people who could benefit from therapy are not necessarily ready for this type of intense work, and CBT offers an effective entrance into the world of counselling.
You Can Let Go Of Negative Thought Patterns
You do not have to keep ruminating on harmful thoughts. If you’re interested in learning more about cognitive behavioural therapy, we invite you to book a free 30-minute consultation. If you want to schedule an appointment, you can fill out our contact form.
