Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
"Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bear bad fruit- and man is his own gardener", wrote the British philosophical writer James Allen. Cognitive behavioral therapy posits that thoughts, rather than external influences such as humans, events and circumstances, are our masters and dictate our emotions and behavior. This means that, notwithstanding an unchanging situation, individuals can alter the way they think and consequently experience less psychological distress as well as act and feel better. The psychological treatment method known as cognitive therapy targets the ideas, beliefs and thoughts circulating in individuals' minds and impacting their behavior and feelings. This behavior therapy assists patients in modifying negative, faulty or irrational thought patterns and behavior that have been programmed through years of reinforcement. This is achieved by educating the patient and placing the emphasis on positive experiences.
Since the basis for cognitive behavior therapy is that most reactions are learned, the objective is to teach patients how to unlearn undesirable behaviors, abandon depression-prone thinking, and adopt different and more flexible reactions. During treatment, patients are taught specific techniques on how to think and act in ways conducive to achieving their goals. Cognitive therapy patients are assigned homework and encouraged to practice the new behavioral and cognitive techniques they learned while in session. The duration for this form of behavior therapy is usually 3-9 months, with an average of 16 sessions per client. While cognitive behavioral therapy is generally short-term, unlike other therapeutic approaches such as psychoanalysis, it produces quick and long-lasting results and changes for the better. The relapse rate for cognitive therapy patients is also low.
Two types of psychotherapy are utilized- behavior therapy and cognitive therapy. Behavior therapy is concerned with changing and overcoming undesirable behavior. Patients learn how to calm their body and mind in order to achieve clearer thinking, better decision-making, and greater contentment. Cognitive therapy, on the other hand, shows patients how distorted perceptions or illogical thinking trigger dysfunctions and provides them with the skills to recognize these problematic thought patterns responsible for psychological distress. For instance, some of the cognitive elements of depression include self-talk, over-generalization, negative thinking, and irrational beliefs. Through cognitive therapy, patients learn to discard unrealistic or pessimistic thoughts, modify unproductive behavior, and reshape thinking about themselves, the future, and their environment. Some of the most commonly-employed techniques include reinforcement, role-playing, and modeling.
In cognitive behavior therapy, patients are taught to test whether their assumptions and thoughts have any validity in reality. They also learn coping strategies and acquire enhanced skills of analysis, introspection, and awareness. Among the various approaches to cognitive behavior therapy are dialectic behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, rational living therapy, rational behavior therapy, and rational emotive behavior therapy.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is extremely efficacious in treating specific conditions. It has been successful in treating an extensive range of psychological disorders and problems, such as:
- Depression;
- Anxiety disorders (i.e. generalized anxiety disorder)
- Phobias (i.e. fear of heights; fear of flying);
- Panic disorder;
- Hypochondria (health anxiety);
- Social anxiety (i.e. being criticized or teased, feeling embarrassed easily; being introduced to others);
- Eating disorders;
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder;
- Mood disorder (i.e. bipolar disorder);
- Insomnia;
- Irritable bowel syndrome, constipation; and
- Drug and alcohol addiction.
Through cognitive behavioral therapy, patients suffering from depression learn coping skills to resist thoughts of pessimism, inadequacy, and failure. According to a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University, cognitive therapy patients diagnosed with mild to severe depression fared significantly better than those placed on a placebo or on medication. The study found that the reason they healed and remained well over the long term was because they had acquired the necessary tools to cope with their depression. The empirical data also showed that individuals struggling with numerous outbreaks of depression, as well as patients with an anxiety disorder or social phobias benefited greatly from cognitive behavioral therapy. Success rates for individuals who underwent cognitive therapy to treat an anxiety disorder are nearly 75%. Cognitive therapy helps patients battling social anxiety to focus on specific acts, such as social avoidance. Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder are treated through exposure and response prevention, a form of cognitive behavior therapy in which patients are exposed gradually to the object of their phobia (i.e. fear of contamination) until it diminishes or vanishes. An intervention involving cognitive behavior therapy has also proven to work magic on insomniac patients. According to a research study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, wake time following six weeks of treatment decreased by 52% for patients receiving cognitive therapy, compared to 16% for those taking the placebo and 4% for patients on a sleep medication.