Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Isn't so Scary

Nov 15, 2018

Lots of people hear the words cognitive behavioral therapy and they immediately think of serious mental defects. But this is just not true. Cognitive behavioral therapy is making its way into everyday counseling sessions and into group discussion. It is just a different form of treatment. It is not just for those with serious mental health issues.

Basically, it's a long-term therapy, with 3-18 sessions, that helps a patient to identify and change maladaptive thinking or harmful ways of thinking. Everyone has a bad thought from time to time but some people get stuck in these, "bad thought," loops which form into bad or critical behaviors. Of course, not all critical behavior is bad.

In fact, critical behaviors come in two kinds, excesses and deficits. If we have too many excesses then, the goal is to reduce them as much as possible. However, when the opposite is true and we have an abundance of deficits the goal is to increase them as much as is needed, or possible. Now excesses are behaviors that we don't want, and deficits are behaviors we want to see ourselves acting on more often.

That's it, the absolute basics of cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT.

Of course, there is more to it than just that. For instance, a therapist who is helping a patient by using CBT to defeat depression has to first help their client realize which critical behaviors are excesses and which are deficits. Or which thoughts and behaviors are leading to their depressive state.

Once that has been established, then a plan must be put in place; whether it be medication, self-instruction, hospitalization, or a host of other options. After following the plan agreed upon there are follow-up assessments to see if any further help is needed.