Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) works directly with unhelpful or negative thoughts. CBT has been found to be an effective treatment for a variety of issues including anxiety, depression, trauma, eating disorders, phobias, and addiction. The basic premise of CBT is that thoughts affect our feelings, which in turn influence our behaviors and actions. CBT examines distorted thoughts which lead to actions that are not in alignment with your goals and values. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an evidence-based approach that helps individuals overcome their mental obstacles so that they can create the life they have always desired for themselves. This method helps individuals step into their fullest potential, through a few fundamental practices.

Challenging Distorted Thoughts 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was created by psychiatrist Aaron Beck back in the 1960s. He noticed the clear relationship between when a person is upset, and the simultaneous thoughts they are having. He realized that when a person was troubled, their thoughts were negative or unrealistic. 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 thought patterns and their relationship to our emotions and actions. Irrational beliefs, for example, are one type of negative thought that can easily influence feelings and actions, often in undesirable directions. CBT allows us to access awareness which puts space between ourselves and our irrational thoughts. This space helps us work more effectively with the struggles in our life which once felt hopeless. Our therapists use practical, evidence-based interventions to help you identify negative thoughts and challenge them, leading you to more emotional freedom.

Identifying Problematic Behaviors and Negative Core Beliefs

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is called what it is because it addresses behavior, in addition to thought. This type of therapy balances your approach to and expands your awareness of thoughts and related behavior. Your therapist at Colorado CBT will assist you in exploring the behaviors that are connected to your present obstacles in life. It’s easy to get stuck in a cycle that perpetuates the struggles you’re experiencing. Your therapist will support you with identifying new behaviors that can guide you out of negativity and into supportive thoughts and feelings. Throughout this process, your therapist will help you identify core beliefs: beliefs we hold about the world and those around us. Because our core beliefs are often interlaced with unfounded negativity, working with a therapist will lend the awareness to shift into more fulfillment in your day-to-day life.

CBT is a goal-oriented therapeutic approach. Your Denver based Colorado 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 witness your own success as you move through this process. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be used with a wide variety of conditions. By rewiring thought and yielding different constructive behaviors, CBT gives patients a sense of empowerment as they are literally implementing the positive change themselves. 

Behavioral Activation

Behavioral activation is used in CBT to treat depression. Behavioral activation works to increase engagement in activities that help to increase mood, while decreasing engagement in activities that perpetuate feelings of depression. Through working to change behaviors in your daily life, you are able to shift out of depression to increased well-being. Your therapist will help you address any barriers that are preventing you from engaging in activities or habits that will help you to increase your mood and sense of accomplishment and mastery.

Your therapist will help you to set short-term and long-term goals that are in alignment with your core values. Behavioral Activation is a personalized intervention that helps identify habits and patterns that maintain depression. Through shifting patterns that have maintained symptoms of depression, you are able to experience the reward of achieving goals and taking action that is in alignment with who you want to be. This positive reinforcement helps create momentum that enables you to continue to take action that will lead to an increase in mood and overall well-being.

Colorado CBT is a Denver clinic that offers Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, amongst other treatments. To get started, reach out to make an appointment!