What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is considered the gold standard treatment for most mental health disorders, which is why it is often recommended by physicians and other care providers. The basic premise of CBT is that thoughts affect our feelings, which in turn influence our behaviors and actions. CBT therapy examines the distorted thoughts underlying actions that are not in alignment with our goals and values. 

CBT Therapy Identifies Problematic Behaviors And Negative Core Beliefs.

CBT was developed by psychiatrist Aaron Beck in the 1960s after he determined that “his patients’ thoughts about a situation influenced their reactions—more so than the situation itself. He labeled these sorts of thoughts, which then affect emotion and behavior, as ‘automatic thoughts’.”

We have all experienced the impact of distorted thoughts on our mood and overall functioning. CBT identifies these thought patterns and their relationship to our emotions and actions. For example, irrational beliefs are a type of negative thought that can easily influence our feelings and actions, leading to emotional pain and undesirable behaviors. 

CBT counseling allows you to raise your awareness and put space between yourself and your irrational thoughts. Having this space helps you more effectively address the struggles in your life which once felt hopeless. 

Behavioral Activation For Depression

When you’re dealing with depression, it’s easy to get stuck in behaviors that perpetuate the struggles you’re already experiencing. Behavioral Activation is a personalized intervention included within CBT therapy that helps identify habits and patterns that maintain the symptoms of depression. 

Utilizing behavioral activation, your CBT therapist will assist you in exploring the behaviors that exacerbate current challenges. Once identified, they will encourage you to engage in more activities that help to improve your mood, while avoiding activities that prolong feelings of isolation and sadness. Actively changing behaviors in your daily life will help you shift out of depression and improve your well-being. 

Additionally, Behavioral Activation will also help you set short-term and long-term goals in alignment with your core values. Goal-setting allows you to experience the reward of achieving objectives that are in alignment with who you want to be. This positive reinforcement helps create forward momentum for taking action, leading to improvement in your mood and overall well-being.

Who Can Benefit From CBT Therapy?

Because it directly focuses on unhelpful or negative thoughts, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for adults and children struggling with a wide variety of mental health issues including anxiety, depression, trauma, eating disorders, insomnia, phobias, and addiction.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a goal-oriented therapeutic approach. Your CBT therapist will collaborate with you to identify goals and strategies to help you overcome negative thoughts and behavior patterns that have kept you stuck in unfulfilling patterns. These goals will ensure that you can achieve personal success as you move through therapy. 

Why Colorado CBT Named Our Practice After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

We feel so strongly about the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that we decided to call our practice Colorado CBT. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is considered a gold standard mental health treatment that is supported by research. As such, most of our therapists have received extensive training in CBT and feel confident utilizing it with their clients.

The therapists at Colorado CBT use practical, evidence-based interventions to help you identify negative thoughts and challenge them, leading to more emotional freedom. What’s more, your therapist will help you identify core beliefs: the beliefs you hold about the world and those around you. Because core beliefs are often interlaced with unfounded negativity, working with a CBT-trained counselor will cultivate your awareness so that you can shift toward more fulfillment in your day-to-day life.

As a goal-directed therapy, CBT is not only effective but also time-efficient. By teaching you how to apply the principles of CBT to your daily life, you will become self-sufficient in implementing it as a helpful coping mechanism to challenge distorted thoughts and unhelpful behaviors. We aim to make the length of your treatment as brief as possible—once you have learned how to take care of issues for yourself, you can effectively “fire” your therapist sooner than later. Other than occasional check-ins, our hope for you is to become empowered moving forward.

Learn How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Can Help You

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an evidence-based approach you can perfect for yourself to overcome mental obstacles and create the life you’ve always desired. By learning a few fundamental practices, CBT helps you realize that thoughts are not always facts, allowing you to step into your fullest potential. If you would like to find out more about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, please visit our contact page to schedule a consultation.