Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking that makes it so.
-Shakespeare
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?
We have all seen a kid take a tumble and then look at you for input: should I cry, or should I carry on?
As captured by the quote at the top of this page, most situations remain neutral until we assign some meaning to them. How we assign meaning has more to do with how we view it than the actual situation. Take the example of how three different students interpret the situation of the first day school.
Person A: I’m looking forward to seeing all my friends and learning biology so that I can become a neurosurgeon.
- Emotions: excited, enthusiastic
- Behaviour: on-time to class, having positive interactions with students and teachers, participating and asking good questions.
- Physiology: focused, smiling
Person B: School is so hard. I’ll probably fail. Anyways, school is for losers. Video games are a lot more fun.
- Emotions: sadness, boredom
- Behaviour: late to class, not doing homework, skips class to play video games
- Physiology: fatigue, vacant facial expression, falling asleep
Person C: I’m really nervous that everyone is going to make fun of my acne.
- Emotions: anxious
- Behaviour: avoidant, introverted
- Physiology: sweaty, palpitations, lack of focus
Three different people have very different experiences of the same situation. It is clear there is a clear correlation between what we think, what we do and how we feel. What if you could gain more awareness of these associations? And learn how to aling thought, word and deed with what your desired outcome is? Wouldn’t it be natural to act in your best interest? This is what CBT is about: in each of us there is a relationship between the following factors…
Situation
Thoughts
Emotions
Physical reactions
Behaviours
In CBT, we endeavour to develop an awareness of patterns between these five factors in the context of our lives: Are they helping us get to what we want? From there, we set out to create new patterns using many strategies.
Conditions served by CBT
CBT is among the most evidence-based streams of psychotherapy. It has a multitude of applications in several contexts including healthcare contexts. The conditions that benefit from CBT are too numerous to mention. There is evidence for its efficacy in many conditions including substance use disorder, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, depression and dysthymia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, eating disorders, insomnia, personality disorders, anger and aggression, criminal behaviors, general stress, distress due to general medical conditions, chronic pain and fatigue, distress related to pregnancy complications and female hormonal conditions. Additional meta-analytic reviews examined the efficacy of CBT for various problems in children and elderly adults. The strongest support exists for CBT of anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, bulimia, anger control problems, chronic headache, and general stress. Generally, any situation in which you find yourself that could benefit from greater self-awareness and more harmony between your emotions, thoughts and behaviours would likely benefit from CBT. Optimizing our psychological approach to situations can change our experience of life, improve our function, and even reduce impairments we face.
Relevant OHIP-funded Group Counselling
CBT offered in...
Medical Assessment
OHIP-funded medical assessments for behavioural & lifestyle interventions
Reference
Hofmann, S. G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I. J., Sawyer, A. T., & Fang, A. (2012). The Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Review of Meta-analyses. Cognitive therapy and research, 36(5), 427–440. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-012-9476-1
