Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) -
Cognitive behavioral therapy (also known by its
abbreviation, CBT) is a short-term, systematic, structured, time bound,
goal-oriented psychological therapy with the focus of preparing a person
to handle his current recurring problems in an effective manner. While
its primary goal is to bring about a change in the behavior and thinking
process is ultimate goal is to bring about a permanent positive change
in the personality of an individual.
The psychotherapeutic techniques of CBT is based on the
principle that changing cognitions and/or behavior improves symptoms and
can help patients with a variety of emotional disorders.
CBT helps patients understand that the meanings they
attach to their experience derive from their own distinctive perception
and that evaluating this meaning for accuracy helps the client to change
his perception into more logical rational one.
CBT is built on the frame work that maladaptive
thinking and behavior is the cause for difficulties encountered by a
person. These maladaptive thinking and behavior has its source in the
belief systems and habituations which are altered through the course of
the therapy. This model contemplate that changing the belief system
changes the way a person feel about ant situations or stimulus. This
intern changes their attitude and approach there by making them feel
positive and comfortable even I difficult situations. In short cognitive
behavior therapy works on all aspects of the psyche of an individual be
it attitude, behavior, feelings, emotions, belief systems and thinking.
An important advantage of cognitive behavioral
therapy is that it tends to be done with in a specific time period with
an average of four to seven months for most emotional problems. In
contrast to other models of psychological therapies where the major part
of therapeutic intervention is done in a clinical setting; most of the
activities associated with CBT is done by the client, outside the
clinical setting in his own real time environment as home works. This
helps in speeding up the process of therapy there by drastically
bringing down the amount of time and the number of sessions spent in the
clinic when compared to other modes of therapy. More over regular
access and working in the real time setting during the intervention
period itself, increases the confidence, that they are fully capable of
independent living even after the completion of therapy.
Over the last 20 years or so there has been a tremendous interest shown
by all mental health professionals in CBT. This has bee due to
- · CBT has the most operationalized approach when compared to any other mode of psychological therapies
- · CBT is guided by a robust conceptualization and knowledge of techniques.
- · Experimental evidences has shown that CBT give positive results faster and it is more effective when compared to ant other model of psychological therapies
- · CBT is an evidence based practice of all available psychological therapies
- · CBT is usually brief and in many cases it can also be done in groups
- · CBT is highly cost effective taking in to consideration the time frame required an the end results
- · CBT can be applied to nearly all types of psychological disorders or emotional problems, with diverse approaches and even in case of multiple diagnosis it has proven its effectiveness
- · CBT is virtually a direct approach and it effectiveness can be monitored and understood as the therapy progresses. This makes implementation of the therapeutic process easy
· Many
new techniques are being added to the CBT model consistently making it
the most updated model of all the psychological therapies
The normal schedule of CBT is one session per week,
with each session lasting approximately 1 hour . This one hour is
usually broken in to three parts. Approximately the first 10 minutes I s
spent of reviewing the previous session, the effectiveness with which
home works could be executed, the difficulties encountered etc are
contemplated and methods of improving the performance are discussed.
Approximately the next 40 minutes are spent on the client and therapist
working together to understand what the problems are and to develop a
new strategy for tackling them. The final 10 minutes is dedicated to
summarizing the proceedings and deciding obn the home works to be
completed before the next session
CBT is the most reliable model of psychotherapy
which introduces the client to a set of principles that they can apply
whenever they need to, and which will stand them in good stead
throughout their lives.
CBT has been found to be effective in handling nearly
all psychological disorders and emotional problems either as the prime
therapy or an adjunct to medical treatment. Many researches have shown
that CBT is either on par with or better than medical treatment in case
of depression. It is also proven fact that CBT has significant impact in
altering the drug resistant delusions and hallucinations even in case
of schizophrenics. It has been the most effective therapy in anxiety
disorders which includes phobias, panic attacks and obsessive compulsive
disorders. Its effectiveness has also been acknowledged in case of
conversion and other somatoform disorders. It has been also been widely
used to treat all behavioral problems, relationship problems, alcohol /
drug abuse and even sexual problems.
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