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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT therapy in Boca Raton, PTSD therapy in Boca Raton, Trauma therapy in Boca Raton, Depression therapy in Boca Raton, Therapy for mood disorders in Boca Raton, teen therapy in Boca Raton
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy based on the idea that the way
someone thinks and feels affects the way he or she behaves. CBT aims to help clients resolve present
day challenges like depression or anxiety, relationship problems, anger issues, stress, or other
common concerns that negatively affect mental health and quality of life.
The goal of treatment is to help clients identify, challenge, and change maladaptive
thought patterns in order to change their responses to difficult situations, gain personal insight to
thought patterns and reframe and rewire new cognitive patterns for positive outcomes.
At Waves Therapy Group, CBT is incorporated into individualized treatment to
help clients build emotional awareness, strengthen coping skills, and create meaningful
changes in their daily lives. Learn more about trauma & PTSD, depression,
loss & grief therapy in Boca Raton and meet our therapists to learn how
CBT may support your mental health goals.
Waves Therapy Group also offers Trauma Focused CBT (TF-CBT).
When Is CBT Used
CBT is appropriate for children, adolescents, and adults and for individuals, families, and couples. A large body of research has found it to be either highly or moderately effective in the treatment of depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), general stress, anger issues, Panic Disorders, agoraphobia, social phobia, eating disorders, marital difficulties, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and childhood anxiety and depressive disorders. CBT may also be effective as an intervention for chronic pain conditions and associated distress. CBT can be used alone or in conjunction with psychiatric medication. Some studies have found that CBT and medication are equally effective in treating depression.
Specialized forms of CBT may also be used to treat specific conditions. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, has been found to be a highly effective short-term treatment for chronic insomnia; it is now the recommended first-line treatment for individuals struggling with insomnia. Another example is enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT-E, a form of CBT specifically designed to treat eating disorders. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based treatment that helps children and adolescents process traumatic experiences, regulate emotions, and develop healthy coping skills to promote healing and resilience. Brief cognitive behavioral therapy, or BCBT, is a shortened form of CBT used in situations where the client is not able to undergo a longer course of therapy.
What to Expect
CBT is a structured form of psychotherapy that can occur in a relatively short period of time depending on the situation often between 5 and 20 weekly sessions, generally around 50-60 minutes each and can also be used throughout the therapeutic journey long term. CBT usually starts with one or two sessions focused on assessment, during which your therapist will help the you identify the symptoms or behavior patterns that are causing you the most problems and set goals for treatment. In subsequent sessions, you will identify the negative or maladaptive thoughts they have about your current problems and determine whether or not these thoughts are realistic. If these thoughts are deemed unrealistic, you will learn skills that help them challenge and ultimately change their thinking patterns so they are more accurate with respect to a given situation. Once your perspective is more realistic, your therapist can help them determine an appropriate course of action.
CBT usually concludes with a session or two of recapping, reassessing, and reinforcing what was learned. If necessary, you may return to therapy for periodic maintenance sessions. Along the way, you will most likely be given “homework” to do between sessions. That work will typically include exercises that will help you learn to apply the skills and solutions they came up with in therapy to real-world situations in your day-to-day life.
Our patterns of thinking are often deeply entrenched and habitual and as with any long-standing habit, it can be an arduous process to replace one thought pattern with a new, healthier one. And while your undergoing CBT, you may not spend a large amount of time exploring your childhood or past, you may still be asked to examine thoughts and behavior patterns that you may find embarrassing or shameful.
How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Works
CBT integrates behavioral theories and cognitive theories to conclude that the way people perceive a situation determines their reaction more than the actual reality of the situation does. When a person is distressed or discouraged, his or her view of an experience may not be realistic. Changing the way clients think and see the world can change their responses to circumstances.
CBT often targets cognitive distortions, or irrational patterns of thought that can negatively affect behavior. Common cognitive distortions include all-or-nothing thinking (seeing everything in black-and-white terms and ignoring nuance), catastrophizing (always assuming the worst will happen), and personalization (believing that the individual is responsible for everything that happens around them, whether good or bad).
For example, someone who is prone to catastrophizing may assume that a friend who doesn't text them back right away is angry at them, potentially leading them to withdraw socially, lash out at the friend, ruminate, or otherwise behave in a non-productive way. Using CBT, they may learn to recognize their tendency to jump to the worst possible conclusion and the next time their friend does not return their text, they can remind themselves that the friend has always returned texts in the past and may simply be busy. Such reframing can help someone refrain from engaging in counterproductive behavior.
At Waves Therapy Group, we understand that life is rooted in the present, so our therapists help clients
becoming actively involved in their own treatment so that they understand that the way to improve
their lives is to adjust their thinking and their approach to everyday situations for healthier outcomes.
References
Beck, J. S., & Fleming, S. (2021). A Brief History of Aaron T. Beck, MD, and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Clinical Psychology in Europe, 3(2), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.32872/cpe.6701
Beck Institute of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
Hupp SDA, Reitman D, Jewell JD. Cognitive-Behavioral Theory. Handbook of Clinical Psychology. Vol. 2. Children and Adolescents. 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Butler AC, Chapman JE, Forman EM, Beck AT. The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: a review of meta-analyses. Clinical Psychology Review. January 2006;26(1):17-31. [Abstract]
Hofmann SG, Asnaani A, Vonk IJJ, Sawyer AT, Fang A. The efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy: a review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research. October 2012;36(5):427-440.
Wood J, Piacentini JC, Southam-Gerow M, Chu BC, Sigman M. Family cognitive behavioral therapy for child anxiety disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. March 2006;45(3):314-321.
Wood J, Piacentini JC, Southam-Gerow M, Chu BC, Sigman M. Family cognitive behavioral therapy for child anxiety disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. March 2006;45(3):314-321.