What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and How Does it Work?

In the United States, publishers release around 15,000 self-help books each year, a number that’s only growing. Self-help podcasts have also gained popularity in recent years, and millions of Americans see a mental health professional.

 Many of these help alternatives employ some form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), an evidence-based intervention that can be leveraged to reduce distress and promote well-being.

Changing the way we think can be a process. While CBT is talk therapy, identifying the troubling situations or conditions in your life is just the beginning. CBT helps you become aware of your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs about these problems and yourself and learn to identify harmful or inaccurate thinking and reshape it. 

Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches techniques such as relaxation, coping, resilience, stress management, and assertiveness. A CBT therapist may be interested in increasing clients’ access and willingness to engage in rewarding activities, educating them in various forms of relaxation training and problem-solving strategies, and encouraging them to re-evaluate distorted cognitions that cause anxiety and depression.

The following tools of CBT can be highly effective:

✅️Cognitive restructuring: Identifying negative thought patterns and reframing them in a more rational way

✅️Mindfulness: Focusing on the present moment and disengaging from negative thoughts

✅️Cognitive diffusion: Recognizing thoughts as just thoughts and choosing whether or not to engage with them

✅️Problem-solving: Identifying problems and brainstorming solutions

✅️Relaxation training: Learning to relax the body’s stress response

✅️Goal setting: Creating clear and achievable objectives