Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?

CBT is a type of psychotherapy (or talk therapy) focused on how thoughts and feelings influence behaviors. Working with a therapist individually or in a group setting, CBT-based therapy helps you manage your thoughts and actions to improve your quality of life.

CBT can be used alone or in combination with medication or other therapies to treat many mental health conditions.

Who Benefits from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

CBT is most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression. But studies show it’s also effective at treating many other mental and physical health problems, including:

Addiction
Anxiety disorders
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Bipolar disorder
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Depression
Eating disorders
Fibromyalgia

Grief and loss
Irritable bowel syndrome
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Panic disorder
Personality disorders
Post-traumatic stress syndrome
Relationship problems
Sleep disorders/insomnia

CBT isn’t limited to treating illnesses. It can also help you learn to better manage stressful life situations.

How Does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Work?

CBT is goal-oriented and focuses on helping you address a very specific problem. It can be effective in a short timeframe—typically five to 20 sessions. CBT sessions can be one-on-one or in groups consisting of family members or people with similar issues.

During CBT, a therapist helps you identify negative thought patterns and behaviors impacting your life. Addressing these patterns helps you reshape your thinking and actions.

For example, you can replace thoughts that lower self-esteem - "I’m always making mistakes" - with more positive beliefs - "I do many things well".

Your therapist may assign homework in between sessions so you can practice new ways of thinking and behaving. Your CBT sessions may include techniques such as relaxation, stress management and assertiveness.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques

Mercy behavioral health therapists use several CBT exercises and tools to help you develop coping skills and healthier behaviors. CBT techniques may be used during therapy sessions or as homework assignments in between sessions. Examples include:

Thought records or journaling – Looking at evidence for and against your thoughts side-by-side to learn more balanced ways of thinking
Behavioral experiments – Gathering information to test the accuracy of your current thoughts or new beliefs
Imagery-based exposure – Envisioning a recent memory that produced strong emotions to understand your thoughts and feelings about it

Pleasant activity scheduling – Participating in activities you find enjoyable to boost your mood
Guided discovery – Answering a series of questions to understand how you process information
Mindfulness – Using practices like meditation and breathing exercises to break negative thought patterns

Mercy offers CBT and other mental health treatments for adults, seniors, adolescents and children. We provide care with compassion and dignity to help you restore a healthy emotional balance.

At Mercy, we offer comprehensive services to diagnose and treat a full range of conditions, including:

At Mercy, we offer comprehensive testing services to diagnose conditions and injuries, including: