Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Explained

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a counseling approach that has been shown to be highly effective. It is supported by close to 50 years of detailed research.

The principles of CBT have come from our understanding of how the brain functions, the identifying and classifying of human behavioral responses, and the insight into how people change.

One of the many positive benefits of this counseling method is its ability to obtain beneficial results in a relatively short span of time.

While counseling that utilizes CBT may be short term, the changes brought about are consistent and long lasting.

This does not mean it is simple or "easy", as it requires commitment of the client to make the necessary adjustments in their thought patterns and belief structures.

Cognitive behavioral treatments have been shown to work well in dealing with depression, anxiety, anger problems, marital issues, as well as in the healing of past unresolved issues or building self esteem.

Counseling that uses Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) understands that thoughts influence, shape, and choose behavior responses as shown here:

chart outlining the cognitive behavioral sequence of events occurring leading to thoughts for evaluation leading to behavioral response. Chart also indicates how emotions are produced as part of the thought/evaluation process and can be factored into the behavior response. Chart also states that learned expereince can be used in the evaluation function.

Your daily life is a chain of EVENTS that are:

Ordinary/Automatic

opening your eyes upon awakening
walking, sitting, standing, etc.

Complex/Involved:

planning your day
interacting with another person

As the day's EVENTS unfold, your brain has THOUGHTS to perform various levels and degrees of evaluation about the events. Here too the range is from the simple to the highly involved. Along with present time inputs, your mind will also use your wealth of "learned experience" for evaluation purposes. Based on the thinking/evaluation process, you (in the brain/mind) choose a BEHAVIOR in response. Here is an example:

EVENT:
Husband is late for dinner.

EVALUATION		BEHAVIOR
Thought	Emotion	BEHAVIOR
Worry that he could be hurt or have been in an accident	Fear Sadness	Call hospital ER’s, Call police, pace house
What an inconsiderate jerk, he knows I have so much to do -- where is he?	Frustration Hurt	Wait impatiently. When he arrives chew him out
He has been late a lot recently, maybe he's having an affair	Fear Anger	Go through his e-mail for evidence, accuse him when he arrives
He's been late a lot recently, work must be difficult right now.	Neutral emotions	When he arrives, ask about work, give understanding.
I can use the time to do something else that needs doing.	Relaxation	Finish a project while waiting. When he arrives have dinner.

The same event can produce several different evaluations. Along with this goes multiple emotional states and levels of centeredness. As you can see, these lead to a large variation of behavior responses as well.

How Counseling With Cognitive Behavioral Methods Can Help

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