What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Here’s the scoop on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, how it can help you, and where to find a cognitive behavioral therapist.

I could nerd out about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy all day. But here’s the gist.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on the connection between our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Because we cannot simply change how we feel at the snap of our fingers, we must focus on addressing the two things in this love triangle that we have some control over: our thoughts and our behaviors. 

By aligning our thoughts and behaviors with how we desire to feel (energized instead of unmotivated; introduce yourself to someone rather than avoid them) we can impact our emotions by default.

Why use CBT?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a proven treatment method for both anxiety and depression, as well as other mental health concerns. It is one of the most researched therapy methods.

As an anxiety therapist, I love using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy because it teaches my clients to become their own therapist. CBT skills will help you your whole life long. I want to empower my clients to be able to address their anxiety and depression symptoms not only during our therapy sessions but in-between each session and for years after I stop seeing them.

A client might come to me for social anxiety and learn and practice CBT to address this. Then, a few years later, there’s a work stressor and the same CBT skills can be applied. I love using a therapeutic approach that allows clients to use these skills in the future, even for new stressors. 

Can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy help anxiety?

CBT is a gold standard for anxiety treatment. Remember, CBT is all about how our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are interconnected. Anxiety is no different.

When we feel anxious, we experience anxious thinking. We worry, we imagine the worst case scenario, and we think and think and think. When we feel anxious, we tend to avoid (that’s the behavior piece). We may avoid certain places, events, people, etc. that trigger our anxiety. These anxious thoughts and behaviors are not good for our anxiety and in the long run, make our anxiety worse. CBT works at retraining your brain over time to not react in this way.

CBT interventions for anxiety include:

• Challenging anxious thoughts - reframing the negative, irrational, anxious thoughts into realistic, positive thinking.
• Identifying cognitive distortions - Cognitive distortions are common, irrational thought patterns we all do. When we are experiencing high levels of anxiety, we tend to take part in cognitive distortions more often such as mind reading. CBT helps you learn to identify these distortions so they no longer take over your mind.
• Exposure and response prevention treatment - This is the behavior side of anxiety treatment. Exposure therapy involves planned and structured exposures designed to reduce avoidance behaviors.

Can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy treat depression?

Imagine if you were feeling depressed and you had a concrete plan for specific actions you could take to improve your mood. CBT offers an intervention focused on behavior: Behavioral activation.

Behavioral activation has been shown to be as effective as medication in treating depression symptoms. The theory behind behavioral activation treatment is we can become stuck in a cycle of depression due to our unhealthy coping behaviors. 

For example, you had a bad day at work. So you come home and sit in your bed and begin scrolling on your phone. This is a subconscious behavior of avoiding negative emotions. Your brain is attempting to distract itself. You feel “better” in the moment but only temporarily and quite briefly. Suddenly, it’s been an hour, maybe 2, maybe even 3. You didn’t end up going for that walk you wanted, you didn’t do the dishes, you didn’t cook a healthy meal, you didn’t talk with friends/family, and you didn’t change out of work clothes.

Now, all that stress from what you didn’t do adds to the stress of your work day. Therefore, you end up feeling worse. You’re less likely to wash your face before bed, you’re more likely to keep laying in bed now that you feel the day has defeated you. Furthermore, you’re more likely to scroll mindlessly on your phone in the morning too. Starting your next day off wrong.

In behavioral activation treatment, you’ll learn to identify your unhealthy behaviors, how to make it less likely to engage in them, and create a plan of realistic healthy behaviors to engage in. Over time, behavioral activation can help you take control of your depression and find your way out of the depression cycle.

Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy right for me?

I believe everyone should learn CBT skills at some point in their life. If you are wanting help with anxiety and/or depression, CBT can be a helpful part of your treatment plan. Whether CBT is right for you at this exact time depends on what your current goals for therapy are. If you are already in therapy, ask your therapist about whether CBT is right for you.

The other factor to consider is: are you ready for change? CBT involves practicing skills and actively practicing challenging thoughts and behaviors. It doesn’t need to be easy to do. It might be really, really hard. That’s what your therapist is there to support and help you overcome. Still, consider if you are truly ready to look inward. And, if you are open to admitting that sitting on your bed watching an hour of power washing videos on YouTube is not how you want to help your mood, then CBT may be right for you.

How do I find a CBT Therapist

Most therapists offer a free consultation phone call so you can see if you may be a good fit to work together. When you reach out to a new therapist, you aren’t looking for any therapist, you want to find the right one for you. Ask questions. If there is a therapy approach you’d like to try, such as CBT, ask if that is something they specialize in.

Psychology Today’s “Find a Therapist” search can sort by “types of therapy” and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one type you can search by. Enter your location and then use the filters at the top of the page to sort by CBT therapists.

Interested in starting Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

I’m a psychotherapist who specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a form of treatment for women with anxiety and depression. If you are in Illinois or Wisconsin, connect with me to see if we may be a good fit to meet your needs and goals. You can also check out my services page to learn more.