Psychotherapy: An Overview of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Psychotherapy is a type of medical treatment that can help a wide range of people with many different issues. However, not all types of therapy are the same. Certain therapies are better suited for certain conditions. However, some therapies, like cognitive behavioral therapy, are beneficial for more than one type of problem. This gives patients more treatment options to choose from than ever before, as well as the ability to develop tools and techniques to live a normal life despite any trauma they may have endured or other difficult circumstances.

Psychotherapy: What is cognitive behavioral therapy?

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy that works to change thought patterns. It is important to differentiate this type of therapy from other types. Other types of therapy, such as socialization and relationship therapy, work to identify problems that occur due to certain behaviors.

An example of this would be a patient with problems forging relationships due to their inability to communicate properly. Another example is a person becoming depressed due to a problematic situation or past trauma. While identifying issues is a step in the process, it is only part of the solution.

This is where cognitive behavioral therapy is different. Cognitive behavioral therapy works once problems have been identified. The premise of cognitive behavioral therapy is that these problems exist but are partly caused by faulty thought patterns. In other words, the way we think and ultimately feel can impact our psychological state and thus be a cause of some of the problems that we have in our lives.

Cognitive behavioral therapy also argues that part of the reason for these negative thought patterns is due to learned behaviors that we have acquired throughout our lives. With proper counseling, it is often possible to unlearn these harmful behaviors and develop new ways of thinking that help us cope with negative or stressful situations without causing further harm to ourselves or those around us.

How does cognitive behavioral therapy work?

Now that we understand a bit more about the idea behind cognitive behavioral therapy, it’s easier to understand how it works in practice.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is performed with a patient and a therapist working to identify when negative thoughts and emotions occur and identify what is causing them. Once that part of the process is learned, the psychotherapy can continue to the main phase of the process, correcting the thought processes.

This starts by being able to recognize when and in what circumstances the patient has these negative thought patterns. Next is understanding the thoughts and motivations of others and how they impact the patient's thought patterns.