The best explanation of CBT that I could easily find is from the Better Health channel/website of the Victorian State Government:
"Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment approach for a range of mental and emotional health issues, including anxiety and depression. CBT aims to help you identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts and to learn practical self-help strategies. These strategies are designed to bring about immediate positive changes in your quality of life.
CBT can be good for anyone who needs support to challenge unhelpful thoughts that are preventing them from reaching their goals or living the life they want to live.
CBT aims to show you how your thinking affects your mood. It teaches you to think in a less negative way about yourself and your life. It is based on the understanding that thinking negatively is a habit that, like any other habit, can be broken."
You can access their full site by clicking here.
Another way of looking at it is to consider the connection and relationships between situations, thoughts, physical reactions, emotions and behaviour. Sometimes there can be a confusion or fog around this. CBT is a series of exercises that help us to remove or see through that fog.
Often a counselling engagement that uses CBT will have work for you to do outside of the counselling session. This includes things like reflective worksheets on themes such as family, emotions, self-awareness, connection with others. Unfortunately many of the worksheets are connected to specific programs or have copyright protection. Some require guidance prior to beginning the worksheet and so I am unable to provide links to them here. Normally I will have the worksheets readily available if we have a face-to-face session at the centre. If it is a remote counselling session I will provide the worksheets via email or a link to a download on Google drive as required.
Issues to consider before choosing CBT
Again, going back to the Better Health website, a good explanation of some of the issues that need to be considered before choosing CBT include:
- "CBT may not be the best form of therapy for people with any type of brain disease or injury that impairs their rational thinking.
- CBT requires you to actively participate in treatment. For example, you may be asked to keep detailed diaries on thoughts, feelings and behaviours. If you are not prepared to put in the work, you may be disappointed with the results of CBT.
- CBT involves a close working relationship between you and your therapist. Professional trust and respect is important. If you don’t like the therapist at the first interview, look for another one.
- While CBT is considered a short-term form of psychotherapy, it may still take months or longer for you to successfully challenge and overcome unhealthy patterns of thinking and behaviour. CBT may disappoint you if you are looking for a ‘quick fix’."
What happens in CBT?
Commonly, but not always, there are six phases in CBT:
- Assessment: An assessment of your problems.
- Reconceptualization: After assessment, thought and chatting with you, we try to re-conceptualize any maladaptive, unhealthy or unhelpful faulty thinking patterns.
- Skills Acquisition: This is the phase where we work together to help you to learn and build healthy behaviors that you can deal effectively with potential problems and symptoms. In this phase many challenges also fade off.
- Skills Consolidation and Application Training: After you have acquired all the necessary skills, it is important to put them in a definite framework for you, otherwise everything may just spill off. This phase imparts a definite shape and stability to your newly acquired skills.
- Maintenance: Once your skills are refined, developed and shaped maintaining them is important to be sure the acquired skills don't just fade away.
- Follow up: Even after your CBT sessions are over, it doesn't stop there. Follow ups and check-ins are common, to ensure your well-being and sound health.