Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

In an earlier post we talked about "Acting as if"-"Living like you believe". I wanted to elaborate more on the idea that we can actually change our feelings, by changing our behaviors and thoughts. This is the premise of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy the therapist and the client work together  to identify and solve problems. CBT sessions are goal directed. There is "homework" between sessions to give you the opportunity to practice what has been talked about. For example you may be asked to monitor and right down your thoughts that pop up in your mind and then together with your therapist you may look for patterns of negative thoughts that lead to negative feelings and then self destructive behaviors.

An example of how a therapist would use this technique for PTSD:

1. The therapist will teach you ways to cope with the feelings and tensions that accompany certain memories. This may include self soothing like we have discussed before, and relaxation techniques.
2. The therapist may help you face memories, by guiding you in retelling what happened. This is an important step in healing shame and teaching realistic interpretations of events.
3.  The therapist will help you change negative thinking.

Many Studies have proven the effectiveness of CBT therapy in treating PTSD and trauma. In fact studies have shown that CBT actually changes brain activity-suggesting that the brain can improve its functioning. Studies have also shown that patients who receive CBT in addition to medication-have better outcomes than patients who do not receive CBT.

I was curious about how EMDR and CBT compared in effectiviness. It looks like that is still up in the air. This was shown in the following study titled EMDR and trauma-focused CBT in the treatment of PTSD   https://www.myptsd.com/c/gallery/-pdf/1-26.pdf

Refer to NAMI.org for more information on CBT.   http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=About_Treatments_and_Supports&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7952 

In another blog we will be talking about more specific examples of what Dr. Beck calls Cognitive Distortions and ideas on how to go about changing you thoughts.