What is cognitive behavioral therapy and how quickly does it help

What is cognitive behavioral therapy

Essentially, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a way to change attitudes towards life and yourself, based on two important steps:

To realize (cognition - "cognition"), where negative thoughts, experiences, habits come from. Assess how they affect your life. Find those logical errors, cognitive distortions that make you worry. Ask the question "Why do I choose suffering over joy?"
Change behavior to eliminate negative experiences by focusing on positive ones.

Personal problems, social anxiety, lingering stress, eating disorders, psychological complexes that interfere with life - all this can be dealt with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | Psychology Today International through cognitive behavioral therapy.

It should be borne in mind that CBT is not a magic pill. It will not rid you of your existing objective problem. For example, if you suffer from a too big nose, it will remain the same. If you're going crazy about a divorce, your partner won't come running back to apologize. If you have severe anxiety disorder or clinical depression, psychotherapy is not a substitute for medication.

But cognitive behavioral therapy can teach you how to relate to problems more easily, or even turn them around to your advantage. So, the same large nose can be the cause of suffering or become a highlight of the appearance.

How cognitive behavioral therapy works

The main idea behind this type of psychotherapy is the following Therapy for Anxiety Disorders. Your psychological state does not depend on the stressful situation as such, but on how you feel about it. The therapist will teach you to distinguish between different types of emotions, understand how your mind switches between them, and focus on the positive ones.

Here's a simple example: you've been invited to a party. On this occasion, you may have the following thoughts and experiences:

“Sounds tempting! My friends will be there, and I will also be able to meet new interesting people. " Experience: anticipatory, happy, excited.
“Parties are still not my thing. Today a new episode of my favorite series is coming out, I'd better stay at home, I don't want to miss it. " Experience: neutral.
“I never know what to do and what to say at these events. They will make me make a toast again, I will make a fool of myself, and they will laugh at me again. " Experience: anxious, negative.

Bottom line: the same event can lead to completely different emotions. Which one to choose is entirely up to you. You have to make the selection process conscious. Like in a store: emotions are offered to you, they cost the same - which one will you take?

To help you feel like a rational “emotion shopper,” the therapist will do the following Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Teaches you how to identify negative thoughts

That is, catching exactly what you are thinking about when you start to experience anxiety. For example, the thesis “They will laugh at me” is negative.

Will help to evaluate and challenge the negativity

Evaluating means asking questions: “Will the bad thing that scares me really happen? And if it does, will it really be disastrous? Maybe it's not so scary?"

Teaches you to replace negative thoughts with realistic ones

Once you identify and analyze the disturbing thoughts, they need to be replaced with more rational and realistic statements. For example: “Who’s going to make me say a toast? I don’t drink at all and I don’t plan to raise my glasses.”

How Quickly Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Can Work

It will probably take time to figure out why this or that situation makes you nervous. And it will also be needed to train your brain to choose the right emotions from the “assortment” - calm and joyful.

To understand and change behavior, an average of 5 to 20 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy psychotherapy sessions are needed.

However, the duration of work with a psychotherapist is an individual matter. If your psychological problems are minor, two or three appointments with your doctor may be enough. And someone will have to visit a specialist for years. It is impossible to predict the timing in advance. But as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy experts point out, on average, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) produces noticeable results faster than other treatments.

CBT has another bonus: meetings with a therapist can be conducted online and will be just as effective as face-to-face meetings.