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How Does CBT Work? 

We encounter a lot of stressful events throughout the day. 5:00 PM rush hour, a demanding boss, a pile of homework, or a fight with your partner can trigger negative thoughts and emotions. Your feelings are valid. It’s okay to feel stressed, angry, anxious, or depressed after an emotionally charged event or situation, so don’t discredit them. CBT therapy aims to get you to access those beliefs and teaches you to redirect your thinking and behaviour. 

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a time-limited approach, typically spanning 12-20 sessions, aimed at rewiring your brain and behavior to overcome detrimental thought patterns and behaviors. By equipping you with practical tools, CBT empowers you to effectively handle negative thoughts, beliefs, and emotions while guiding your mind towards a more positive and manageable perspective. Through self-monitoring, activity scheduling, and exposure to stimuli, as well as modifying your response to them, CBT offers the means to transform your behavior.

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CBT can be performed in a multitude of ways. Your therapist may give you written homework or activities which detail the steps of CBT and how to apply it to stressful or triggering situations. Additionally, worksheets can be given to you by your counsellor to help you practice the steps of cognitive behaviour therapy. There may be a behavioural component to the practices and the issue you are trying to overcome. Whatever the case, your therapist will guide you with a high level of care and attunement through the in session and homework practices. This therapy is for you if you are interested in taking an active role in your therapeutic process. 

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What Does CBT Help With?

 

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CBT can serve as a potent strategy to address symptoms related to anxiety, depression, trauma, and various other mental and emotional health issues. CBT is commonly utilized to treat a range of conditions, including OCD, intrusive thoughts, social anxiety, bipolar disorders, eating disorders, panic attacks, PTSD, specific phobias, substance use disorders, generalized anxiety disorders, and more

 

CBT offers targeted intervention for various negative thoughts and emotions, such as embarrassment, shame, anxiety, helplessness, anger, sadness, or frustration. As you explore this information, you might even detect some of these emotions arising within you. It's important to acknowledge that we can experience multiple emotions in response to a situation, and that's perfectly normal. Sometimes, we may not even be aware of our emotions as we get caught up in self-defeating thoughts like "I always mess everything up; I'm a failure" or "They must hate me because of my constant mistakes." Other times, we may recognize that certain behaviors and habits negatively impact our well-being. CBT is a systematic and measurable form of therapy that effectively addresses these issues by targeting thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors.