What is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)?

From Medical News Today on 09/25/19 by Kathleen Davis, FNP

"Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a short-term therapy technique that can help people find new ways to behave by changing their thought patterns.

Engaging with CBT can help people reduce stress, cope with complicated relationships, deal with grief, and face many other common life challenges.

CBT works on the basis that the way we think and interpret life's events affects how we behave and, ultimately, how we feel. Studies have shown that it is useful in many situations.

More specifically, CBT is a problem-specific, goal-oriented approach that needs the individual's active involvement to succeed. It focuses on their present-day challenges, thoughts, and behaviors.

It is also time-limited, meaning the person knows when a course will end, and they have some idea what to expect. Often, a course will consist of 20 one-to-one sessions, but this is not always the case.

It can also take the form of either individual or group sessions.

CBT is a collaborative therapy, requiring the individual and counselor to work together."

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Editor's note:

CBT, the so called "talk therapy," is very helpful and achieves better results than medications in most cases. Psychotropic medications and psychotherapy can both be helpful. Psychotherapy usually contributes to the most effective and longest lasting results.