What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and How does it work?
Cognitive behavioral therapy is psychological treatment that according to the American Psychological Association has demonstrated to be one of the most effective types of psychotherapy. The research studies have shown that CBT can lead to improvement of quality of life and it is effective for depression, anxiety disorders, marital problems, eating disorders, and other mental health issues. Over the last few years, CBT has also become one of the most popular types of treatment offered, but how do you know if it's right for you? An even better question yet, what exactly does CBT do?
The Triangle - Thoughts, Feelings, and Action
Our thoughts, feelings, and actions are more connected than we may even realize. Think about the last time you streamed a movie on Netflix or binge watched a show on Hulu – what were your feelings? Happiness, sadness, fear, maybe even anger when your favorite character was voted off the show. We feel all of these emotions even though we’re not the ones actually in the movie or show, why? Because our emotions are not random.
Emotions are actually a result of what we think about certain situations. Thoughts play a powerful role in determining how people feel and how they act. If you think positively about something, you’ll probably feel positively about it. Conversely, if you think negatively about something—whether or not that thought is supported by evidence, you’ll probably feel negatively about something.
The relationship between your thoughts, feelings, and actions is known in the CBT world as the cognitive triangle. It will be one of the main focus points in your therapy sessions with a CBT-trained therapist. The goal is simple – to learn more about your thinking patterns and why or how they lead to painful emotions or problems and change your thinking.
How Are Your Thoughts and Feelings Connected?
Your CBT-trained therapist and you will explore how you interpret or think about a situation and how it makes you feel. No two people react the same way. For example, two people receive negative feedback at work and one person might think “ I can’t do anything right, I bet my boss hates me.” while the other person will think “I need to do better next time.” They both encountered the same situation, but are thinking differently and you guessed it, their emotions will be different too. The first person will mostly feel depressed and nervous and the second person might feel disappointed, but they still have motivation.
How Your Thoughts & Feelings Lead to Your Actions
Not to be cliche, but never has the saying “Actions speak louder than words” made more sense than it does in CBT. After you and your CBT-trained therapist explore your thinking patterns and emotions, together you’ll talk about how you act in certain situations. Going back to our depressed and nervous employee, it’s safe to say that he might avoid his boss or feel nervous the next time he has to do challenging work. But our disappointed, yet still motivated employee will ask his boss for help on how to improve the next time he’s given a difficult task at work. These are actions and when truly examined from a different perspective, we can pinpoint how they came to be.
Thoughts, feelings, and actions. It may seem like an easy process, but sometimes our thoughts have become so ingrained in our personalities that we don’t notice them! This is where your therapist will help guide you through your thinking patterns, try on new ways of thinking and eventually experience more positive emotions.
Our practice has qualified CBT-trained therapists that could help you! If you would like to learn more about how CBT can help you, please call (786) 644-5392 for your free, 15-minute consultation.
