What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Identifying And Reshaping Negative Thinking

When it comes down to it, many mental illnesses, phobias, and other things cognitive behavioral therapy treats are the result of negative and faulty thinking. For instance, someone with anxiety may worry excessively about not having enough money for certain things such as groceries, clothes, or for an emergency fund, even when they have devised a budget and have money saved that would cover these costs. Someone with a social phobia may believe going into social situations, such as a bar, would cause something bad to occur.

Someone who was abused or neglected may have thoughts of it being their fault or not being good enough. In all instances, CBT seeks to identify the thoughts causing the individual distress and uses the homework assignments and formal sessions to break the thoughts down, replace them with alternative thoughts, and essentially reshape the way the individual thinks about these sources of stress, anxiety, and distress.