There are many styles of therapy and an experienced psychologist will have an array of techniques to help you feel better. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is one such technique that is successful in treating phobias, panic attacks, and general and social anxiety. It focuses on everyday experience and targets your emotional thinking and negative beliefs. Here is what you need to know about it.
What Is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy?
It's a type of psychotherapy, also known as counselling, to treat various mental and physical health issues. This behavioural therapy bases itself on the premise that human thoughts and behaviour are interconnected. In other words, how we think can impact how we feel. What's more, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) assists people in recognizing how negative thoughts impact behaviour. It teaches specific skills that help people challenge distorted thoughts and replace them with more constructive thinking or actions. It also allows people to re-evaluate their thinking and promote helpful behaviour.
Additionally, CBT also enables people to learn how to change their behaviour in the face of possible triggers. The main goal of counselling sessions is to help you with your complex feelings, symptoms and triggers and to develop a personalized plan for coping. There is a huge amount of research that shows that CBT works. Therefore, cognitive behavioural therapy is considered one of the most well-established treatments for anxiety disorders and other phobias. Some of the well-known benefits of cognitive behavioural therapy are as follows.
It helps you to develop a rational thought process.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is particularly effective in helping you to modify your thoughts and beliefs. The skills learned during cognitive behavioural therapy gradually prove to be helpful in understanding and recognizing the pattern of negative thoughts and replacing them with more positive ones. This technique enables the person to developing a more rational way of thinking instead of having irrational fears run the show. Often it is used along with other kinds of therapies or techniques, which is a decision your psychologist can make in collaboration with you. It is widely believed that cognitive behavioural therapy is an excellent place to start for most anxiety disorders.
It helps in relaxation.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps you learn skills that transform the way you think and react to triggers. It can involve learning helpful relaxation techniques that are instrumental when responding to triggers, hence further reducing the symptoms of the given condition.
It instills hope in people about their condition.
People living with anxiety disorders or phobias are known to struggle with a lack of hope that they can overcome their symptoms. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helps people learn to distinguish between accurate and inaccurate thoughts. Eventually, it allows them to take away power from their negative thoughts by opening their minds to more constructive and positive possibilities. Thus, giving control to the person and instilling hope of a better life.
Conclusion
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy has been hailed as a successful technique in helping people with several mental health conditions and some physical issues. So, suppose you are unsure whether it's this or any other kind of treatment you require for a condition you are living with. It could be beneficial to get in touch with a psychologist near you to determine if it can help with your symptoms.
If you're looking for a therapist near Sherwood Park for anxiety and stress counselling, Ward & Associates Psychological Services is here for you. We specialize in individual counselling for adults, teens, and children and couples counselling and trauma counselling for first responders. We also offer online therapy for clients residing in Alberta. Contact us to learn more about our services or to book an appointment.