Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be an effective treatment in relieving symptoms of depression, anxiety and anger. A cognitive behavioral therapist focuses on restructuring one's thoughts or cognitions thereby changing the person's feelings and behaviors. It teaches the client to relate to his or her thoughts in a different way and recognize that these maladaptive thoughts may not be based in reality but only products of the individual's subjective perceptions. For example, a person may be quite demanding about how the world for other people should be and when external situations or people do not follow his or her rules, the client may experience a negative emotion. Cognitive behavioral therapists, particularly those trained in Cognitive Therapy by Aaron Beck, distinguish among different levels of a person's cognitions.
Cognitive Therapists
Cognitive Therapists differentiate between a person's automatic thoughts, maladaptive assumptions and maladaptive beliefs. Automatic thoughts are experienced numerous times daily and involve distortions about reality, for example, thinking you know what another person is thinking (“He thinks I'm a loser”), fortune telling about the future (“I'm going to fail this test”) or labeling an entire individual and/or yourself by one feature (“I'm a failure because I didn't get that job,” “She's an idiot because she failed the test”). A cognitive therapist works with the client to identify these thoughts and restructure them, so the client recognizes the thoughts when they occur and is able to dispute them on his own. Underlying the automatic thoughts are assumptions, ways a person assumes the world ought to be. Underlying these two levels of cognitions are core beliefs: deep-rooted beliefs one has about himself, learned over the course of his life. Common core beliefs of those who experience negative emotions involve thinking he is unlovable, worthless or a failure. The cognitive therapist works with a client to identify these negative core beliefs and their learning history, and how to change them.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy Homework Assignments
Cognitive therapists not only work with clients in therapy sessions, but a key component to progress is the client's completion of weekly homework assignments. Thought logs are often assigned to track and monitor thoughts, reviewed in weekly sessions. The client is taught to identify maladaptive thoughts when they occur and dispute them on his own. One technique is to weigh the evidence for and against a specific cognition. Often a client will believe with a large percentage of certainty that a negative belief is in fact reality; after disputing it with a more rational one, the certainty usually lessens. The more the client is able to dispute his own maladaptive thoughts and core beliefs, the more negative feelings and behaviors decrease.
Cognitive Therapy is an empirically-based psychotherapy in which results are usually experienced within the first six months of treatment. Sessions occur weekly, decreasing to every other week at the clinician's discretion. Cognitive therapy can be used for all ages, including children, adolescents and adults, and has become widespread in the United States over the past 50 years.
For an updated, more in-depth look at this topic, see The Cognitive Side of CBT | Thoughts, Beliefs, and Change.