What is Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Useful CBT Techniques

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is the most popular psychological treatment for mental health problems. So what is cognitive behaviour therapy and what are some of the CBT techniques used by practitioners. This article will provide a brief overview of CBT and of the techniques used to improve mental health.

What is cognitive behavior therapy?

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for a range of mental health problems including depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic disorder, chronic pain, psychosis, eating disorder (e.g., bulimia and anorexia) plus many more. It is a treatment originally created by Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis and is one of the most extensively studied treatments for mental illness.

According to CBT, the way we think (cognitions) affects how we feel and how we behave. The key to treatment is therefore to identify our thoughts and challenge or change them so that they become more realistic and helpful. For example, if you think that you are a failure, then this will make you feel down and depressed. This may then lead you to not try very hard or give up easily. In the end you end up failing which reinforces your belief that you are a failure.

Cognitive behaviour therapists often refer to the ABC model to help identify maladaptive thinking patterns and behaviours.

Antecedents (A) --- Thoughts/ Belief  (B) --- Consequences (C)

In a nutshell the ABC model is summarised below:

• Antecedents (A) - refers to some type of environmental trigger. E.g., getting told off by a parent

• Thoughts/ Belief (B) - a CBT therapist will then ask 'what were you thinking after this happened?' e.g., 'I was thinking that I was a loser and nobody loves me'

• Consequence (C) - refers to how this made you feel and act. E.g 'I felt depressed and then withdrew from everyone.'

CBT techniques

The goal in CBT is therefore to identify thoughts and help clients to change them. Thoughts are often challenged and 'thinking errors' are identified. For example a person may have a tendency to fall into 'magnification/minimisation' traps. That is, they magnify the negatives about themselves, others or the world and minimise the positives.

This article provides a brief explantion of CBT, hopefully helping you to understand what is cognitive behavior therapy. CBT is an effective treatment for mental health problems and in many cases is often recommended as the treatment of choice for many mental health problems. It is by far, the most people treatment used by psychologists and other mental health practitioners. Many people do benefit from many CBT techniques, however, it does work best when it is used in conjunction with lifestyle, nutritional, and sometimes medical treatments.

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