Modern psychotherapy has many directions. One of them is cognitive-behavioral (or cognitive-behavioral) therapy. Currently, this area is considered one of the most effective and promising.
Briefly about the direction
The founders of the direction are Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, whose works became widespread and famous in the middle of the 20th century. It is interesting that these two specialists developed their largely similar methods independently, without cooperation with each other, in about the same period of time.
A 2007 study by the Canadian Center for the Study of Mental Problems and Addictions showed that CBT is highly effective in solving many problems, helps to achieve good results in a short time, and is positively perceived by patients.
The direction of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is based on the premise that the cause of psychological disorders (depression, phobias, etc.) of a person is the internal problems of the personality itself: ineffective attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, judgments about life situations, about oneself and others.
So, many negative thoughts provoking unwanted emotions appear in people as if automatically, without their will. Also, people tend to think in cognitive schemes, stereotypes, for example, about how real men or women should or should not behave. The stereotypes that exist in a person's mind do not always correspond to objective reality and, moreover, are not always useful for him.
The essence of cognitive behavioral therapy
In the process of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, the therapist helps the patient to reveal his real deep beliefs that cause him inconvenience, which are often hidden under the guise of any other beliefs, fears, obsessions, etc. To do this, the therapist can ask tricky and unexpected questions and apply different therapeutic methods.
In the course of this, the client gets the opportunity to see that his unwanted reactions to certain situations are a consequence of his beliefs, his thoughts about the situation and his assessment of her and himself as a person. And the situation itself may not be a problem at all.
There is a kind of "revision" of ideas about the world around, people and oneself. Often this in itself helps to cope with anxiety, depression, insecurity, increase self-esteem, etc. Seeing from the outside his ineffective beliefs, the client can consciously decide whether he wants to adhere to them further or abandon them.
A characteristic feature of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is that feelings, thoughts and behavior of a person are considered as interrelated and influencing each other. If you solve the problem at the level of thoughts, feelings and behavior immediately change, and release from oppressive feelings and emotions allows you to start thinking differently.
In cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, a variety of methods are used, which are constantly updated with new ones. Clients are taught to use methods to identify and correct automatic thinking, such as writing and diary thoughts, reassessing values, replacing emotions, changing roles, identifying alternative causes of behavior, a plan of action for the future, etc.
