Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?
CBT is among the most evidence-based streams of psychotherapy. It has a multitude of applications in several contexts including healthcare contexts. The premise of it is simple: 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. Here are some examples of commonly used strategies to consciously reprogram the choreography of these five variables.
Conditions served by CBT
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.
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
