Online resources are available that may make participating in CBT possible, especially if you live in an area with few local mental health resources. At your first session, your therapist will typically gather information about you and ask what concerns you'd like to work on. The therapist will likely ask you about your current and past physical and emotional health to gain a deeper understanding of your situation.
Your therapist may discuss whether you might benefit from other treatment as well, such as medications. The first session is also an opportunity for you to interview your therapist to see if he or she will be a good match for you.
Make sure you understand:. It might take a few sessions for your therapist to fully understand your situation and concerns, and to determine the best course of action. If you don't feel comfortable with the first therapist you see, try someone else.
Having a good "fit" with your therapist can help you get the most benefit from CBT. Your therapist will encourage you to talk about your thoughts and feelings and what's troubling you. Don't worry if you find it hard to open up about your feelings. Your therapist can help you gain more confidence and comfort. CBT generally focuses on specific problems, using a goal-oriented approach. As you go through the therapy process, your therapist may ask you to do homework — activities, reading or practices that build on what you learn during your regular therapy sessions — and encourage you to apply what you're learning in your daily life.
Your therapist's approach will depend on your particular situation and preferences. Your therapist may combine CBT with another therapeutic approach — for example, interpersonal therapy, which focuses on your relationships with other people.
CBT is generally considered short-term therapy — ranging from about five to 20 sessions. You and your therapist can discuss how many sessions may be right for you.
Factors to consider include:. Except in very specific circumstances, conversations with your therapist are confidential. However, a therapist may break confidentiality if there is an immediate threat to safety or when required by state or federal law to report concerns to authorities.
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Psychological Medicine. In other words, the way you think and feel about something can affect what you do. But another key concept of CBT is that these thought and behavior patterns can be changed. So, how does one go about reworking these patterns? CBT involves the use of many varied techniques. Your therapist will work with you to find the ones that work best for you. The goal of these techniques is to replace unhelpful or self-defeating thoughts with more encouraging and realistic ones.
Homework is another important part of CBT, regardless of the techniques you use. This might involve more practice with skills you learn in therapy, such as replacing self-criticizing thoughts with self-compassionate ones or keeping track of unhelpful thoughts in a journal.
It can also help with:. These examples can give you a better idea of how CBT might realistically play out in different scenarios.
You and your partner have recently been struggling with effective communication. Your partner seems distant, and they often forget to do their share of household chores. You mention this in therapy, and your therapist helps you come up with a plan to deal with the situation. Your therapist asks about other possible interpretations. But this makes you feel anxious, so your therapist teaches you a few relaxation techniques to help you stay calm.
Finally, you and your therapist role-play a conversation with your partner. To help you prepare, you practice conversations with two different outcomes. In one, your partner says they feel unsatisfied with their job and have been considering other options. In the other, they say they might have developed romantic feelings for a close friend and have been considering breaking up with you.
Your anxious thoughts center on things that happen at work. They ask you to keep track of negative thoughts that come up at work, such as specific times you begin worrying about losing your job.
You also explore your relationships with your co-workers to help identify reasons why you feel like they dislike you. What is CBT? What can you learn? How do you learn? What can CBT treat? How does CBT work? Takeaway 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.
Share on Pinterest CBT can help with depression, anxiety, and a wide range of other problems. Share on Pinterest Role-play activities allow people to practice and explore different ways of reacting to difficult situations. What can it treat? How does it work? Share on Pinterest CBT can help people to find new ways of looking at things. Exposure to air pollutants may amplify risk for depression in healthy individuals.
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