Cognitive Behaviour Therapy has been around for quite some time, however many of us do not know what it is exactly. This article explains what it’s all about and how it works.
Cognitive Therapy
Here the focus is on the influence that someone’s thoughts have on their feelings and behaviours. This might include distressing feelings like anxiety or depression and problematic behaviours like substance abuse. Cognitive therapists help clients identify automatic thoughts, characteristic distortions in their thinking, unhelpful or unworkable attitudes or beliefs, and to understand how all of these cognitive phenomena contribute to their difficulties. Cognitive therapists challenge clients’ thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs, directly through debate in a session, or by assisting clients to consider alternative perspectives, identify and weigh up evidence for or against their ideas, and related strategies.
Behaviour Therapy
This is the application of behavioural and learning principles in understanding clients’ behaviours and then altering the context to encourage the learning of new, more adaptive, and less problematic behaviours. Behaviour therapists use a variety of in-session and out-of-session exercises and experiments to facilitate the learning of behaviours that work better and result in more favourable outcomes for their clients.
So how do they work together?
Cognitive behavioural therapists use both cognitive and behavioural strategies to varying degrees. In truth, there is no single approach we could identify as ‘CBT’. Some CBT treatments emphasise cognitive strategies while others emphasise behavioural strategies. Individual CBT therapists may tend to emphasise cognitive or behavioural strategies depending on their own style, the client’s problem, or other factors. A value that underlies CBT is that therapy should be based on research and the best available science rather than vague models or untested hypotheses. As a result of this, CBT approaches have been subjected to far greater scientific scrutiny than other therapy approaches.
In response to this pressure, the techniques used by CBT therapists have evolved, retaining and improving effective techniques while discarding techniques that are found to be less effective. CBT has become the most well-known, mainstream approach to therapy, partly because it has, by far, the strongest research support for its effectiveness in treating a wide range of emotional and behavioural problems. It has been found to be effective in treating depression, anxiety disorders, the effects of trauma, substance abuse and addiction, complications related to medical conditions, and many other difficulties. CBT is built upon the idea that cognition, emotion and behaviour all interact together.
As CBT is based on the assumption that our thoughts (cognitions) affect both our emotions and behaviour, it adopts techniques to help the client recognise destructive thinking patterns and replace them with healthier ones. CBT is also sometimes delivered in a group setting which has the advantage of allowing clients to interact with others who are experiencing similar feelings, in order for them to understand that they are not suffering alone – that there are others experiencing similar thoughts and feelings to their own.
Once a therapeutic relationship has been developed between CBT therapist and client specific areas of difficulty are identified. Using the model shown, the patient and therapist usually explore one or two main areas of difficulty. CBT tends to be a brief therapy over weeks or several months. The length of therapy primarily depends on the individual and their level of functioning. Therefore someone with severe symptoms would be very likely to receive therapy over the course of several months or more.
The therapy sessions usually last between 30 minutes and 1 hour although the client is often asked to perform homework tasks between sessions. These therapy sessions are usually held on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Although CBT is mainly focused on the present; past experiences may also be raised in order to understand how these are affecting the client’s present life.
This article has been put together by the distance learning organisation Start Learning who are experts in home study. If you want to find out more about Cognitive Behaviour Therapy or many other distance learning courses please browse their website: http://www.start-learning.co.uk
A good way to find out more about Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is to sign up for a distance learning course on the subject. By studying in your free time and pace, you can gain the necessary knowledge while tailoring it to suit your schedule.
Kerrana McAvoy
Academic Director – Start Learning
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