Your CBT guide, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy CBT, has emerged in recent decades as the best tested
approach for managing a wide range of psychological conditions and the section we will explore, what
CBT is, how it was developed and what makes it so effective.
We'll also consider how it can help with specific issues like depression and anxiety.
CBT The beginnings of cognitive behavioral therapy is a solution focused form of psychotherapy designed
to reduce symptoms and boost wellbeing as quickly as possible.
As the name suggests, CBT includes both a cognitive component, which focuses on changing problematic
patterns of thinking and a behavioral component which helps develop actions that serve us well.
This building blocks of CBT were developed somewhat independently.
Let's look at each of these approaches before reviewing how they were joined together.
Behavioral therapy in the first half of the 20th 20th century, psychoanalysis was the most common form
of talk therapy for psychological conditions.
This approach was based on the theory of the mind and often involved meeting regularly with a therapist
for several years and exploring one's childhood and upbringing.
While countless people benefited from psychoanalysis and similar treatments over human behavior, specialists
began looking for ways to provide relief more quickly.
They were inspired by recent discoveries about how animals, including humans, learn and begun to apply
these principles to treat conditions like anxiety and depression.
These efforts led to the development of behavioral therapy by individuals.
Other found that straightforward changes in one's behavior could bring relief.
For example, people with phobias could conquer their fears by gradually facing what scared them.
A few sessions of targeted work could provide lasting relief.
Cognitive therapy.
Not long after the advent of the first behavioral therapies, other mental health specialists brought
both a different explanation for psychological struggles to psychiatrists.
Put forward the idea of our thoughts, have powerful effects on our feelings and behaviors.
Accordingly, they supposed that our misery arises from our thoughts.
For example, it was believed depression was driven by negative beliefs about oneself and the world.
For example, I'm a failure.
According to the developers of cognitive therapy, treatment first needed to identify the offending
thoughts and then work to replace them with ones that are more accurate and helpful with practice.
People could develop ways of thinking that to promote positive feelings and behaviors.