Human beings are complex animals. The modern-day lifestyle adds to the stress as well as anxiety leading to depression and a host of phobias. Sometimes an individual crack under the mental pressure and displays abnormal behavior often manifested in the form of obsessive-compulsive disorders, addictions, and other problems. The affected person usually has no clue of anything being amiss and feels that they are not doing anything out of the normal. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT is believed to be one of the most effective methods of therapeutic treatment that is heavily dependent on counseling sessions.
How Does CBT Work?
The primary goal of the counselor is to make the individual recognize and identify his/her problems and learn to slowly replace the destructive and negative thoughts with constructive action. CBT is one of the most popular therapies available today. It is preferred by both the mental health professionals as well as counselors who are not qualified psychiatrists.
Advantages
CBT is considered to be more beneficial than other forms of counseling or individual therapies because:
- It helps the patient to overcome multiple behavioral problems.
- It is usually a short term therapy, which makes CBT more cost-effective.
Types of CBT
Cognitive-behavioral therapy or counseling does not have a fixed method. There are a number of approaches to it and mental health professionals are free to follow the method most suited for a particular disorder. Some of the most commonly used CBTs are:
- Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy – The process involves identifying the various irritations and the patterns of behavior, making the patient accept the problem, and then slowly help the individual change the destructive behavior via meditation, keeping a journal, or guided imagery. REBT is exceptionally effective in treating anxiety disorders and phobias.
- Cognitive Therapy – This form of CBT consists of identifying the problems, performing behavioral experiments, studying exposure and reaction to a particular problem, scheduling certain activities along with monitoring them, checking the negative thoughts, beliefs, and feelings, and helping the patient change it for good. This therapy has been found to be successful in getting rid of depression, anxiety disorders, overcoming grief, and substance abuse.
- Multimodal Therapy – This type of therapy believes in the interconnection of thoughts and behavior and aims to treat the seven basic IDs or dimensions of the personality. Identification of the problem follows a uniform process for all kinds of behavioral disorders here with the focus shifting to a specific dimension once the underlying cause is found out.