One of our most valuable lessons is helping children understand how thoughts can influence emotions and behavior. At a time when social, cognitive, and emotional development is expeditious, reframing counterproductive thinking and the beliefs that underlie that thinking are integral to navigating the emotional and personal challenges experienced during childhood.
To help patients achieve better overall mental health, specific Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) steps must be taken to encourage positive thinking. Countless individuals have benefited from this groundbreaking therapy in treating various mental health disorders. Keep reading to discover how CBT has proven effective in improving mental health.
What is CBT?
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a sort of talk therapy that allows people to identify and change their negative thinking ways. Founded by psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s, CBT was created to treat depression. Nevertheless, CBT has also helped treat various other conditions, including:
- Anxiety disorders
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Bipolar disorder
- Eating disorders
- Schizophrenia
- Substance use disorders
Types of CBT
Different types of therapy fall under the cognitive behavioral therapy umbrella. The specific type of CBT utilized depends on the individual patient’s needs. Some examples of CBT include:
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) helps patients recover from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related conditions.
- Cognitive Therapy (CT) attempts to alter the patient’s unwanted behavior patterns to treat mood disorders, including depression.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is commonly used to treat personality disorders and interpersonal conflicts. DBT has also proven helpful in treating mood disorders, suicidal ideation, substance use disorder, and self-harm.
- Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) helps people deal with irrational beliefs to learn how to manage emotions, thoughts, and behaviors better.
The Benefits of CBT
As the patient moves through the different steps of CBT, they ideally achieve several goals. One of the primary goals is to manage and lessen the symptoms of their mental health disorder as they happen. This kind of therapy also guides individuals to recognize their emotions, enhance their communication with others, and determine disputes healthily.
Cognitive behavioral therapy can help people deal with loss and grief and overcome trauma sustained from violence and abuse. What the patient knows in CBT contributes to their being capable of avoiding the deterioration related to drug and alcohol addiction. While many people using CBT also take prescription medications for their mental health disorders, they can also benefit when medicine does not present a viable option.
How long does each stage of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) take?
One benefit of CBT has to do with the length of time required to experience it. While some talk therapy can consist of years of regular appointments, CBT is designed to be a short-term treatment, typically lasting from about five to twenty sessions. Factors that contribute to how long it takes to achieve the CBT stages of therapy include:
- Which disorder does the patient have
- How long they’ve had the disorder
- The severity of their symptoms
- How quickly they progress during treatment
- It helps the patient receive from loved ones
Combining CBT with other therapies offers a multi-pronged approach.
Cognitive Therapy For Anxiety
Behavioral and cognitive theories of human psychopathology are at the heart of cognitive behavioral therapy. By targeting multiple areas of potential vulnerability with developmentally-guided strategies and flexible intervention pathways, CBT is an effective treatment for a wide range of psychological problems in adults.
Anxiety disorders are the most typical form of psychopathology in children and adolescents. In children, the signs of Generalized Anxiety Disorder are often exhibited as reflecting on their health and the health of loved ones, school, the views of others, and social problems.
The Steps of CBT
The steps of CBT start with an evaluation by a licensed therapist who suggests CBT treatment.
Step 1: Initial Assessment
The foremost meeting concerns the therapist doing an intake of the patient. A history of the person’s life is usually taken. The therapist can identify a patient’s negative thoughts and physical and emotional reactions. The therapist combines that with their observations about how the person thinks, beliefs, and processes information, resulting in a customized plan for treatment. This step helps determine situation-specific problems, residual issues from the history, and any mental health or addiction diagnoses.
Step 2: Development of New Concepts
The therapist assists the patient in adjusting how they view issues and knowing how to return any automatic negative thought habits with positive ones. This stage helps cement the new concepts and ensure the patient understands them. Many patients keep a logbook to record their problems and new methods to react to them.
Step 3: Acquirement of New Skills
The new form of thought and viewing things now starts to become action-oriented as the patient develops healthy behavior habits to deal with mental illness and addiction signs. They cross a bridge between understanding their new concepts and how to achieve them. Many of their initial symptoms begin to decrease during this phase.
Step 4: Involving New Skills to Stressful Conditions
As circumstances, emotions, and symptoms arise, the patient involves their newfound skills in each of them. As they progress through this stage, they become more satisfied with the new technique, checking in with the therapist to assess each example of using their unique strategies. The purpose is to make their new responses a way to use regularly.
Step 5: Maintenance
At this moment in the CBT stages of therapy, a person has become knowledgeable and comfortable with how they now tolerate challenges. They practice their skills confidently without worrying about automatically using old thought patterns and manners. Patients then begin wrapping up the CBT process with their therapist.
Step 6: Follow-up Treatment
While standard therapy appointments will end, the therapist will resume seeing their client for follow-up appointments. They allow the person to check in and ensure they still practice CBT skills. The duration between follow-up appointments will gradually increase, ultimately leading to the treatment discontinuation.
Conclusion
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy stands as a beacon of hope for children grappling with anxiety. Its tailored approach, combining cognitive restructuring and behavioral techniques, offers a robust framework for young minds to manage and conquer fear. Through fostering self-awareness and modifying negative thought patterns, cognitive therapy for anxiety not only addresses immediate concerns but also lays a foundation for lifelong resilience.
