Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one of the types of psychological treatments used to treat many diseases, and the history of this treatment dates back to the 1960s when psychiatrist Aaron Beck noticed a relationship between certain types of thinking and the occurrence of different emotional problems. These thoughts are then "automatic negative thoughts". Previous behavioral therapies focused on reinforcements and punishments with the aim of modifying the behavior, but CBT takes the influence of feelings and thoughts on behavior into account during the treatment journey.
What is cognitive behavioral therapy?
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a common type of speech therapy that is done by attending a certain number of sessions with a psychotherapist, the goal of which is the person''s awareness of his incorrect or negative way of thinking and the feelings resulting from it and how it affects his behavior and life in order to reach a more effective response to these thoughts and feelings. And try to replace them with positive and realistic ideas.
Cognitive behavioral therapy can be a very useful tool, either alone or in combination with other psychological or pharmacological treatments in treating mental health disorders, but it should be noted that not everyone who undergoes cognitive behavior therapy has a mental health condition, as this treatment can be used. As an effective way to help anyone learn to better manage and cope with the stressful circumstances and challenges of life.
When are the resulting thoughts and behavior harmful to the person and should they be treated?
A person’s vision of things is distorted and unreal if it causes him to see things and situations in life as either wrong or correct in the absolute without a gray area in the middle, which prompts the person to jump to conclusions with a negative mentality, in addition to seeing things with a catastrophic view.
Returning to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care in Germany, it is possible for a simple example to clarify the general idea. For example, let''s assume that you were walking on the road and you saw an acquaintance and thrown peace upon him but he did not want your peace, in this case the normal state of the chain of thoughts, feelings and behavior resulting from It should be as follows: “He did not notice me and maybe he was in a bad condition and suffering from a problem. I must contact him later to check his news.” The person should not have any negative feelings about this situation, while the problem might exist if it was a chain Thoughts, feelings, and behavior are as follows: “He ignored me, and this indicates that he no longer loves me as he did before.” Therefore, the person may feel sadness and rejection, which drives him to avoid the person in the future, knowing that he may be completely wrong in his estimation.
Cases of resorting to cognitive behavioral therapy
In one of the articles he reviewed on the healthline website, psychiatrist Timothy Legge explains cases in which it is a good idea to resort to cognitive behavioral therapy, as follows:
Health problems and various mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders, addiction problems, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, sleep problems and sexual disorders.
The benefit of cognitive behavioral therapy here lies in its ability to control the symptoms associated with these diseases as well as prevent relapses that accompany them, in addition to being the first line of treatment if medication is not a good option for the condition.
Overcoming emotional trauma related to abuse or violence.
Learn to manage strong emotions, such as when anger, fear, or sadness occurs.
Learn many techniques for coping with loss and harsh life conditions.
Solving various social relations problems and developing communication skills with others.
Learn to cope with organic and chronic diseases.
Cognitive behavioral therapy steps
The focus in cognitive behavioral therapy is on the events that occur in the present, unlike other psychological treatments that focus on what happened in the past, and the duration of treatment extends between 6 weeks to 6 months depending on the medical condition and the extent of response. The steps involved in cognitive behavioral therapy are as follows:
Identify problems or life situations that stimulate the occurrence of problems.
Here, it is necessary for the person to cooperate with the psychotherapist in order to accurately identify the problems in order to set the goals desired to be achieved from the treatment and focus on them. Therefore, the psychotherapist may spend the first sessions in conversation with the person to get to know him more, although some people may find it difficult in the beginning Speaking of themselves, the psychotherapist has different methods that encourage the person to make his voice and allocate problems that may be, for example, a health problem or the occurrence of a divorce and so on.
The person acquires awareness of his feelings, thoughts, and beliefs about his problems.
Once the problems that must be solved are identified, the goal of the psychotherapist turns to encouraging the person to share his thoughts about these problems, and the therapist focuses on the person’s conversation with himself about an experience and his interpretation of the meaning of a particular situation and the beliefs that the person has about himself and other people, and the therapist may suggest the person to keep His thoughts in a daily note.
Build an awareness of negative thinking.
In this step, the therapist helps the person to know the wrong way of thinking and the resulting behavior that contribute to making the problems worse by urging the patient to pay attention to his physical and emotional reactions and focus on his behavior towards different situations.
Restructure negative thinking.
This is the most difficult and time-consuming step in which the therapist encourages the person to ask himself every time and in a position about whether the vision he has towards the situation is based on facts or if the viewpoint is based on incorrect and inaccurate perceptions of what is going on, and with the passage of time. A person has different patterns of thinking and with practice these positive patterns and the resulting behaviors usually do not require any effort.
Be smart about setting your goals
One of the important points that the psychotherapist focuses on during the treatment journey is helping the person to define his goals and distinguish between short and long term goals, and it is usually recommended to follow the SMART strategy, as the letters in English indicate the characteristics of the goals that the person seeks to reach with the help of the therapist, namely As follows:
A specific goal (S: Specific): Determining the goal in detail helps to make the road access easier and faster, for example it is possible for a person who wants to lose his extra weight as follows: “I must lose 9 kilograms by exercising 4 times a week ... "
M: Measurable goal: It is good for a person to set measurable criteria for the goal to help him measure progress towards the goal and adjust the methodology if necessary. If the goal is to reduce stress, the person can set a standard for himself that is the number of times he feels sad during One day and so on.
An achievable goal (A: Attainable): Despite the importance of the ambition to achieve large goals, it is very important that the goal be realistic and achievable with the availability of appropriate means to avoid the person feeling his failure in the event that he is unable to reach the goal, it is not logical for the person to set a goal with loss 9 kilograms within two weeks.
Relevant goal (R: Relevant): the goal must be important to the person himself and not from the choice of someone else, and also attention must be paid to the need to choose ways that the person finds enjoyable to achieve his own goal, for example riding a bike may be enjoyable for others with the goal of losing weight You may find that you enjoy swimming.
Time-based goal (T: Time Based): In addition to the importance of determining a time period during which the desired goal must be achieved, it is advised not to set a distant date in the future, and this is by setting smaller goals with shorter periods of time: for example, if the goal is to lose 9 kilograms within 3 months of A good idea is to set a smaller goal of losing 1 kg per week.
