How To Instantly Learn & Apply Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Model
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a non-drug psychotherapy treatment that focuses on changing the way you think and act in order to improve your mood and behavior. CBT is often used for a variety of disorders, but it's especially helpful for anxiety disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, phobia and social anxiety.
Learn how to use CBT techniques by focusing on what you can do better instead of dwelling on what's wrong with you. It will take less time than watching TV or scrolling through social media sites. It could also help decrease symptoms such as pain or fatigue by avoiding rumination on past experiences or mistakes.
CBT has been shown to be effective in helping people feel better and cope with their symptoms. The treatment lasts from 10-50 weeks, which means you're likely to notice an improvement after a couple of months. In CBT, you'll learn to recognize when anxious thoughts and behaviors are causing trouble for you and how to change them.
If you're ready to learn more about CBT, it's important that you can apply your new methods over time. These action steps will help you put the techniques into practice: cognitive restructuring, exposure therapy, self-monitoring, relaxation training and more. Follow along with these step-by-step instructions so you can start using cognitive behavioral therapy techniques today and experience immediate results.
Cognitive Restructuring
CBT is all about changing how you think. The first stage of treatment for anxiety disorders is called cognitive restructuring. It has three parts: identifying your unhelpful or negative thoughts, changing these thoughts and finding a healthier way to act. The goal of CBT is not to eliminate all negative thoughts from your head, but to acknowledge when your thoughts are exaggerated or irrational and replace them with more realistic thinking.
While reading the following information, remember that anyone can have negative self-talk once in a while. However, if the anxious thoughts are entirely focused on yourself and everything you do gets turned into something bad, that's not healthy — it could be a sign of an anxiety disorder. Identifying negative self-talk helps you learn how to control your thoughts.
Identify the type of negative thought that you have. Ask yourself "What is this thought telling me?" If it's commenting on your performance, ask yourself "What does my performance look like?" and if your thoughts are all about trying to stay safe, ask yourself "How safe am I?" Don't criticize yourself for having negative thoughts. Instead, try to focus on learning about why you're thinking this way and what you can do differently next time. For example, if you blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault, try discussing the situation with someone else and see if they agree with what you've concluded.
Once you've identified the thoughts that are causing you problems, write or talk them out (write them down if talking is easier for you). Talk to a trusted person or psychotherapist if this helps. Write down your negative thoughts and the thoughts that contradict them. For example, maybe your thought is "I'm stupid," and then your counterthought is "I'm not stupid." Once you have both of these thoughts on paper, look at them from different angles and ask yourself "How can I use this to improve my life?" For example, if your first thought was "I'm stupid" and the second was "I'm not stupid," you could talk about whether it's true that you're dumb or just about mistakes.
By identifying and changing your negative thoughts, you can make them less powerful. Once you've identified the thoughts that are causing you trouble, try to replace them with positive or realistic thoughts. These positive thoughts can come from anyone — a friend, a family member or even yourself.
Exposure Therapy
The next step in CBT is exposure therapy. This means exposing yourself to the situation that made you anxious and spending time in this social environment until your body has adjusted to it. In CBT, this is called exposure therapy, and it's performed in one of two ways: real world or virtual reality.
In real-world exposure therapy, you'll spend time in a social situation that causes anxiety. You may be going to a party or running around outside with your dog for two hours. The goal is for you to stick around and treat the situation as if it doesn't make you nervous at all. This allows your brain to get used to these situations so that the anxiety will go away — it will work like a normal process of habituation.
Virtual reality exposure therapy works by having a computer simulate the social situation that makes you anxious. For example, if you're afraid to ride on an elevator, the virtual reality program will make it seem as if you're in one without actually being there.
No matter which type of exposure therapy treatment you decide to use, it's important that you set up your exposures to be realistic. Find out what triggers your anxiety and plan a schedule so that you can get used to these situations. Exposure therapy is most effective when it's practiced every week for about six weeks. If the problem only affects you when specific events are coming up, schedule practice sessions before these occasions.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a part of CBT that teaches you to pay attention to your actual thoughts and behaviors. This helps you identify when you're in danger of experiencing a relapse and, if you do, helps you know how to recover. When it comes to anxiety disorders, it's important that the panic attacks don't control your thoughts.
Self-monitoring works by making a list of your anxieties and then tallying how often these anxieties have happened and what causes them. Keep monitoring this list so that you can recognize when these thoughts are becoming more of a problem than usual.
Relaxation Skills
In CBT, relaxation skills are used to lower anxiety — they're used on a regular basis to counterbalance the excitement or stress that comes from your day-to-day life. You can use relaxation skills at home to reduce the number of negative self-thoughts that you have and learn how to control your feelings in stressful situations. Relaxation skills include:
Deep breathing exercises that help you focus on your breathing and take slow and controlled breaths; this is usually done lying down or sitting down with a straight back.
Progressive muscle relaxation, in which you tense and then relax muscles starting with your toes and working your way up to your head.
Guided imagery, in which you picture an environment that helps you relax (like a beach or the woods).
Try to find at least one relaxation technique that works for you. These exercises help reduce anxiety and improve your ability to function during stressful situations. Spend 10 to 15 minutes each day focusing on taking deep breaths and relaxing yourself. Try not to think about work or relationships while doing this — just focus on relaxing every part of your body.
Conclusion
Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps many people with anxiety disorders. By allowing you to control the way you think about and react to your environment, it reduces the stress and fear that comes from certain situations. Once you've created a list of your behaviors and thoughts, you'll be able to work on making them healthier and more realistic. You can also use relaxation skills to help yourself focus on reducing anxiety and calming down when it starts happening. Once you've treated your anxiety disorder, you'll have skills that can be used to manage other stressful situations in the future. If your CBT treatment fails or doesn't adequately improve your symptoms, consider talking to a doctor about other therapy options — like medication or a different therapy plan.