Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is a structured, goal-oriented form of psychotherapy that focuses on changing unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns to improve your mental health.
At Recovery In Tune, CBT is used as a core treatment approach to help you manage various mental health issues, like anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
By working with a trained CBT therapist, you can gain the tools to recognize and replace negative thoughts, adopt healthier behavior patterns, and improve your quality of life.
About CBT in Mental Health Treatment
CBT was developed by Dr. Aaron Beck in the 1960s and has since become one of the most effective treatments for a variety of mental health disorders.
CBT is a form of therapy grounded in the belief that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected. It focuses on helping you identify cognitive distortions — or unhelpful thought patterns — and replacing them with more realistic, positive thoughts.
This form of psychotherapy is highly practical and short-term, with a focus on addressing current problems rather than delving deeply into past experiences.
Unlike psychodynamic therapy, which often explores the roots of emotional issues, CBT provides practical tools that can be immediately used in everyday life.
With a CBT therapist, you learn how to:
- Challenge and reframe negative thoughts
- Gain effective problem-solving skills
- Learn to approach life’s challenges with a healthier mindset
Recovery In Tune offers CBT as an effective treatment in both our mental health and substance abuse treatment programs.
The Process of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The process of CBT is structured to help you identify and change patterns of thinking and behavior that may be fueling your mental health problems.
Here’s how it works:
- Assessment and goal-setting: In the first session, your therapist will assess your symptoms, set realistic treatment goals, and identify specific problems you want to work on. This initial phase provides a clear roadmap for your CBT sessions.
- Identifying negative thought patterns: CBT emphasizes awareness of negative thinking patterns, or “automatic thoughts,” that may arise in response to life situations. Through guided exercises, your therapist helps you identify these thoughts and recognize how they impact your emotions and actions.
- Challenging cognitive distortions: Cognitive distortions, such as catastrophizing or overgeneralizing, are unhelpful thought patterns that may contribute to mental health issues. CBT interventions help to reframe these cognitive distortions by questioning their validity and replacing them with more balanced, positive perspectives.
- Learning CBT techniques: As part of the process, you’ll learn various CBT techniques, including exposure therapy, role-playing, and journaling, to address specific issues like anxiety or OCD. For example, if you struggle with anxiety disorders, exposure therapy may be used to gradually confront and reduce triggers that cause fear or worry.
- Behavioral interventions: CBT involves developing new behavior patterns through techniques like behavioral activation. This might include gradually increasing pleasurable activities or taking steps toward facing specific problems you’ve been avoiding.
- Practicing new skills: CBT encourages practicing new skills outside of therapy sessions. This real-world application helps you adapt new ways of thinking and acting in daily life, ensuring the benefits of CBT extend beyond the therapy room.
- Review and progress evaluation: Throughout CBT, your therapist will check in on your progress to ensure that treatment goals are being met. Adjustments may be made based on your needs, with the goal of reinforcing positive change over time.
How Does CBT Benefit People in Mental Health Recovery?
CBT is widely recognized as an effective, self-help-based therapeutic approach for various mental health conditions. Here’s how it could benefit your mental health treatment journey:
- Reduction of symptoms: CBT helps identify and challenge thoughts that fuel anxiety and depression, like “I can’t handle this” or “Nothing will get better.” By reframing these thoughts, CBT reduces the overwhelming feelings tied to anxiety and low moods.
- Practical problem-solving skills: CBT teaches you structured steps to break down overwhelming situations, making it easier to tackle everyday challenges. For example, if you feel stressed at work, CBT helps you identify specific stressors, brainstorm solutions, and take manageable steps toward change.
- Builds emotional resilience: Through CBT, you learn coping techniques like deep breathing, visualization, and reframing thoughts, which can prevent negative emotions from taking over. This helps you stay calm and focused, even in challenging situations or when navigating stressors that trigger trauma-related conditions.
- Improves relationships: CBT addresses unhelpful patterns in relationships, like avoiding conflict or being overly critical. By examining these behaviors, you learn healthier ways to communicate and respond, leading to stronger, more positive relationships.
- Increased self-empowerment: CBT empowers you to recognize and change negative thought patterns on your own. This skill means that even after therapy ends, you can continue applying CBT techniques to maintain mental health and handle future challenges independently.
- Helps manage physical symptoms of stress: CBT can reduce physical symptoms linked to mental health issues, such as insomnia, muscle tension, or stomach issues. By lowering stress through techniques like thought reframing and relaxation exercises, CBT improves overall physical well-being.
Types of Mental Health Conditions CBT Can Treat
CBT is a versatile therapeutic approach used to address a wide range of mental health issues. Here are some of the specific mental health conditions and other health problems CBT can effectively treat:
- Depression and anxiety disorders: CBT is one of the most effective treatments for both depression and anxiety disorders, including social anxiety, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety (GAD).
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): Through exposure and response prevention, a form of CBT, people with OCD can learn to reduce obsessions and compulsive behaviors.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): CBT is particularly beneficial for PTSD, as it helps process traumatic memories and reduce the intensity of related thoughts, feelings, and paralyzing body sensations.
- Eating disorders: CBT can address unhealthy thought patterns associated with eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, promoting healthier relationships with food and self-image.
- Substance use disorder: CBT provides strategies for managing cravings and triggers, helping people recover from substance abuse by addressing the underlying thought patterns.
- Phobias: Exposure therapy, a form of CBT, is commonly used to help individuals confront and gradually reduce fear associated with specific phobias.
- Insomnia: CBT for insomnia (CBT-I) is a specialized form that helps you reframe thoughts around sleep, improving sleep patterns and reducing insomnia.
- Bipolar Disorder: CBT can assist in managing symptoms of bipolar disorder by stabilizing mood through thought and behavior adjustments.
- Personality disorders: CBT is sometimes used to treat aspects of personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, focusing on changing harmful thinking and behavior patterns.
- Chronic Pain: For those managing chronic pain, CBT helps by reframing thoughts around pain and promoting coping strategies for better physical and mental well-being.
Now is the perfect time to begin to heal!
Mental Health Programs at Recovery In Tune Offering CBT
At Recovery In Tune, CBT is integrated into various mental health programs to support you at different stages of your recovery journey.
Our partial hospitalization program (PHP) offers structured, intensive support, including multiple therapy sessions per week, to provide a comprehensive approach to mental health recovery.
In PHP, CBT is often used alongside other psychological treatments like talk therapy to help you develop effective coping skills and create a solid foundation for a healthy mind.
Our intensive outpatient program (IOP) is ideal if you need a structured environment but are ready to start balancing therapy with some independent responsibilities.
In IOP, CBT sessions are combined with group and individual therapy to address specific problems related to your mental illness and apply those skills to real-world situations.
Our outpatient program (OP) is designed for people who still need mental health support once or twice per week while they more fully re-integrate into daily life and responsibilities.
CBT is used in this treatment option at a rate that best suits your needs to help you reinforce the skills and behavioral adjustments you’ve learned in the earlier stages of your treatment.
What to Expect in CBT Sessions at Recovery In Tune
Our CBT sessions are led by compassionate, experienced mental health professionals focused on providing you with the tools you need for short-term treatment and long-term care.
When working with our cognitive behavioral therapists, you can expect:
- Collaborative approach: CBT at Recovery In Tune is collaborative, meaning you work closely with your therapist to set goals and monitor progress.
- Skill development: Sessions focus on learning and practicing new CBT techniques, such as role-playing or exposure therapy, to address specific mental health issues.
- Safe environment: You’ll be supported in a safe, non-judgmental environment where you can openly discuss your struggles and challenging thoughts and emotions as well as your successes.
- Regular progress tracking: Throughout your CBT treatment, your therapist will help you track changes and adjust techniques to ensure you’re making progress toward your mental health goals.
How Much Does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Cost?
The cost of CBT depends on several factors, including the intensity of the program and your specific treatment needs.
Many insurance providers, including private and public plans, cover CBT as a standard form of mental health care. This is particularly true within structured programs like residential care and outpatient programs like PHP or IOP.
Our team at Recovery In Tune can help you verify your insurance benefits and provide cost transparency to make sure therapy remains accessible for your mental health needs,
Learn How to Change Your Thoughts and Behaviors with CBT
If you’re ready to break free from unhelpful thought patterns and develop healthier ways of coping with life’s challenges, CBT at Recovery In Tune may be the right step for you.
Through personalized, targeted therapy sessions, you can learn to manage difficult emotions, improve your self-esteem, and take control of your mental health.
Contact us today to learn just how life-changing compassionate, dedicated, and comprehensive care can be for your needs.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy FAQs
Types of therapies included in CBT exercises can include journaling, thought-challenging, exposure therapy, and role-playing. These exercises help you identify and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors in real-world situations.
Some CBT coping skills include deep breathing, mindfulness, thought-stopping, and reframing negative thoughts. These techniques help you handle stress, anxiety, and difficult emotions that are often tied to mental conditions like schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder (ADHD), and more.
Yes, CBT is one of the most researched and proven treatment options for many mental health disorders. Numerous studies and meta-analyses have shown CBT’s effectiveness in reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, and many others.
Sources
- American Psychological Association. “What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?” Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/cognitive-behavioral. Accessed on October 30, 2024.
- Cleveland Clinic. “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).” Retrieved from: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/21208-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-cbt. Accessed on October 30, 2024.
- National Institute of Health. National Institute of Health.systematic review and meta‐analysis.” Retrieved from: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5836900/. Accessed on October 30, 2024.
- National Institute of Health. “Cognitive–behavioral therapy for management of mental health and stress-related disorders: Recent advances in techniques and technologies.” Retrieved from: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8489050/. Accessed on October 30, 2024.
- National Institute of Health. “In brief: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).” Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279297/. Accessed on October 30, 2024.
- National Institute of Health. “The process and delivery of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for depression in adults: a network meta‐analysis.” Retrieved from: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6517197/. Accessed on October 30, 2024.