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This is a very important article as it gives you a brief idea of what CBT is all about. The program, as you know is based on teaching you these techniques except you won’t be having therapy; you will be purely learning the techniques as they are taught in regular CBT. You should also know that CBT is very well researched and that there is a vast body of scientific evidence to support its efficacy.

So, what is CBT?

  • CBT means Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT for short)
  • Cognitive means: “Having the faculty of thought” in other words it is all about the way we think
  • Behavior means: “Our behavior” which includes what we do, what we say, how we function, how we react and, in fact every aspect of our functioning.
  • Therapy means: “A therapeutic process”. I call what we are doing here: CBTT which is learning Cognitive Behavior Therapy Techniques.

 

What is the philosophy of CBT?

CBT directly focuses on the way we think and the way we behave, which directly affects the way we feel.

There are several ideas central to CBT, below are a few:

  • Negative Automatic Thinking.  CBT theorists argue that the way we think directly affects the way we feel and therefore when we think negatively, we will feel very negative. If we learn how to STOP thinking in negative ways we can help rid ourselves of negative emotions and negative behavior.
  • Negative thoughts will often bring about negative and destructive feelings.
  • Thoughts and feelings are directly related, each affecting the other.
  • Our behavior is also directly linked to our thoughts and feelings.
  • If we have many negative thoughts that also affect our emotional state, we will also behave in negative ways.
  • If we think more positively and more effectively, we will feel good and our behavior will reflect our positive mood. We simply need to learn how to think more effectively because this is the key.
  • If we allow our thoughts to control us we will be at their mercy. This is not what we want, so we need to finds ways to bring about positive change.
  • If we learn how to, we can learn how to control our negative thoughts, they don’t have to control us.
  • We might be conditioned to think, feel and act in certain ways.
  • If our conditioning is negative, we will carry this with us in out life.
  • We might also have certain negative beliefs we have believed for many years
  • They may not be valid today
  • We might hold the belief that we can’t have control over our thinking. It is important to learn that we can and that this belief is erroneous.
  • We need to know how to test our beliefs so we can change them before they become harmful to us and our well-being.

If you suffer from depression, anxiety or have any stress related problems you might recognize much of the above. When you are depressed it will affect every aspect of your life in a negative way.  You might think negative thoughts, feel negative emotions and behave in negative ways. Your thoughts will largely dictate how your feelings and behavior are affected. It all rests on the way you think and your perceptions of situations.

The meanings you attach to situations will directly affect your mood and behavior because they are born from the way you think. If you attach negative meaning to a situation, you will feel negative. When you attach positive meaning your experience of life will be more positive. Your emotional state will reflect your attitude and your behavior will also reflect your state of mind.

 

CBT developed three concepts explaining some of our thinking:

  • NAT’s (Negative Automatic thoughts): These are the negative thoughts that zoom into our head feeding us a whole range of negative ideas. They are automatic and therefore NOT well thought out or rational. Our mistake is in believing them as we do. We need to learn how to STOP and question them before giving into them or allowing them to control our thinking and mood.

CBT will teach you how to do this.  For example if you were depressed once and you suddenly feel down again your immediate reaction might be to tell you self you are heading for a depressive episode. You will then automatically go down a very negative road without stopping to think rationally. Your thinking will then trigger more negative thoughts about the situation, making you feel even worse and so the spiral continues. More NAT’s, more negative emotions which then bring on more negative thoughts!!

To make matters worse you might “act” on your thoughts and feelings by isolating yourself, disconnecting from the world, miss some days at work to stay in bed, stop washing… you might act in any number of negative ways. All this will be as a result of your negative automatic thoughts.

 

A similar scenario might occur if you feel very anxious or stressed. Your mind will start getting flooded with a whole array of negative thoughts about your anxiety or panic attack. This could then trigger some nasty symptoms which often feel out of your control. You might become very distressed, have physical symptoms which will then trigger more negative thoughts, and so the situation continues to deteriorate.

Learning how to think more effectively is Key here. Getting your thinking under control will then affect your physical and emotional state as you bring them back to a stable place. It means you taking control of your thinking and not allowing your negative and catastrophic thoughts to control you. CBT teaches you how to do this.

  • Conditioned thinking:  Although not strictly CBT, it is so closely related and so significant in relation to the rest of CBT, it deserves a place here on this program. Here I explain   what it is and why it is meaningful.
  • We are all conditioned from the moment we are born. We have collected much of our conditioning throughout the years as we spend more time on this earth. In terms of CBT our conditioned negative thoughts can affect the way we function in a profound way. We might be conditioned to believe a whole array of things about ourselves, others and the world around us. We might be conditioned to believe we are fat, stupid, ugly, or that we will never be able to overcome our depression or anxiety.

 

The state of conditioning can prevent us from thinking in a rational way and therefore can be harmful to our mood, our state of mind and behavior. CBT teaches us how to test, question and change conditioned thinking and behavior.

 

In the program you will learn to do so consciously in order to undo much of your previous conditioned thoughts and beliefs which may have become harmful to your well-being. In relation to depression, anxiety and stress, this is a vital lesson and one that will bring about profound change in you. You may hold many negative conditioned beliefs about yourself, others and the world around you, purely due to your conditioning. You may also be conditioned in relation to depression, anxiety and your own self worth as well as your value within this world. If you have conditioned yourself, or have been conditioned by others to believe harmful, unhelpful and irrational beliefs, then somehow it is vital to undo this conditioning. If you want to live a full and emotionally healthy life it is essential to rid yourself of conditioning that is harming you. CBT teaches you how to do this.

 

  • Core beliefs:  These are the beliefs we hold about ourselves, others and the world around us. Just like conditioning, we develop a belief system over time. Our beliefs then become cast in stone, never to be questioned, challenged or changed, we simply believe. In terms of CBT this is a bad road to go down. If we have a belief that we will always be depressed, or we will always suffer from panic attacks, or that we will never find love because we don’t deserve it, we can send ourselves on a negative path in life. This means that just like we need to test our conditioning, so we also need to test our beliefs because when they are negative, chances are they may not be accurate. They may in fact be harmful to our emotional well-being and therefore may need changing. Who says you will always be depressed or have panic attacks? We need to challenge, test and question these beliefs because only then can we assess whether they are valid or not. If they are not, and if you are depressed due to your belief, your belief needs to be challenged by yourself. CBT will teach you and you will learn how in the program. Conditioned beliefs can be harmful, that is what I am saying, especially if you suffer from depression or any stress related condition, so it needs thorough checking.

 

Having worked as a CBT therapist for many years now I can say, hand on heart that CBT techniques work when there is commitment and dedication to learn and master them…

 

So there you have it, your brief introduction to CBT

 

Good luck

Carole