CBT techniques are powerful tools to help manage mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. Unlike traditional talk therapy, CBT focuses on practical, problem-solving strategies to help you identify and challenge negative thoughts and unhealthy behaviours. By breaking down complex problems into smaller parts, CBT enables you to find new perspectives, develop coping skills, and improve your overall well-being. In addition to focusing on the present moment, CBT also incorporates elements of mindfulness to help you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings.
To learn more about the treatment programs at Venture Academy, including cognitive-behavioural therapy, reach out to us at 866.762.2211 today. We help teens across Canada improve their mental health to live their best, happiest lives.
What Is CBT?
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on changing how we think and behave in response to certain situations. It encourages individuals to look at their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours as interconnected systems to reduce distress and improve overall well-being. This type of therapy relies heavily on creating strategies to modify one’s thoughts and beliefs in order to better cope with difficult emotions or situations.
CBT can be used to treat various psychological disorders and other issues, such as:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Stress
- Relationship problems
- Substance abuse
By examining our own thought processes, behaviours, and cognitive distortions, we can gain a better understanding of how our emotions and actions affect one another. This can help us make changes that lead to healthier and more productive lifestyles. Overall, CBT is an effective way to reduce stress, decrease symptoms of mental illness, and improve overall well-being.
What Is a Cognitive Distortion?
Cognitive distortions are irrational thoughts or mental errors that people make when viewing reality. These distorted thinking patterns can lead to unhealthy emotions, stress, and even depression. Some of the most common types of cognitive distortion include:
- Overgeneralisation – This is an assumption that a single event will have a long-term, negative outcome. For example, “I made one mistake, so I must be a total failure.”
- All-or-nothing thinking – Thinking in absolute terms and seeing everything as either black or white with no middle ground. For example, “If I don’t get perfect grades, then I’m an academic failure.”
- Mental filter – Ignoring positive events while focusing only on the negative. For example, “I worked really hard, but no one noticed my effort.”
- Disqualifying the positive – Discounting or rejecting compliments or successes. For example, saying “That’s not a big deal” when someone gives you praise for doing something well.
- Magnification (catastrophising) – Exaggerating the negatives while minimising the positives. For example, “This mistake is going to ruin everything.”
- Personalisation – Taking responsibility for events that are out of your control. For example, “My friend didn’t like me, so it must be because I’m a bad person.”
It’s important to remember that these cognitive distortions are a sign of mental illness and should be addressed in order to improve your overall emotional health. By recognising these patterns, you can actively challenge them and learn to think more realistically about yourself and the world around you.
CBT Techniques
Through CBT, individuals learn to recognise their own distorted thinking patterns and irrational beliefs. Once these patterns are identified, they can be challenged in order to reduce the emotional distress associated with them. There are several ways this is done, and some of these techniques are discussed below.
Journaling
When you start to do CBT work at a behavioural treatment centre with your therapist, the first order of operations is to gain an understanding of where your thought patterns need to be augmented. Being unaware of the thought patterns that need a change, work is necessary to get to those. Many therapists will ask patients to start journaling. It’s a CBT technique that helps the therapist and patient stay on top of moods and thought processes. Journaling will give the patient and the therapist a more precise idea about where to start their work.
Identifying Cognitive Distortions
You and your therapist will use journaling and talk therapy to figure out what your cognitive distortions are. Identifying these is a means to a resolution.
Making Cognitive Changes
Once you begin to understand what your specific distortions are, then you can start to work on changing your value system to see through the fallacy of your thinking and feel better.
Exposure Therapy
This technique is for people with beliefs that prevent them from going to a specific place or doing things out of fear that something terrible will happen. For instance, someone might hate to swim and hate people that love to swim because, at one point, they almost drowned. A therapist would use exposure treatment on this patient after discovering the faulty thought pattern.
In this case, a therapist might introduce the patient to bodies of water through pictures, then maybe go to the lake and, later, perhaps, try to go for a swim. They gain exposure to what they’re afraid of. They see it’s harmless, and they no longer have to adhere to their old thought pattern.
The Benefits of CBT
CBT can be beneficial for a range of issues, such as depression, anxiety, phobias, substance abuse, eating disorders, and more. It has been shown to work effectively in helping people develop insight into why they think and behave in certain ways. With the help of CBT tools and techniques, clients learn how to become aware of their thoughts and feelings so that they can challenge them objectively instead of letting them take over their lives.
CBT also encourages healthy problem-solving strategies, which help individuals develop coping skills to manage stressful situations. In addition, it teaches relaxation techniques that can be used to reduce physical and emotional tension. As a result, CBT is an effective treatment that helps people make positive changes in their lives. It has been found to have a lasting effect on mental health and well-being, which makes it an important tool for helping individuals lead healthier, happier lives.
Learn More About Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy at Venture Academy
If you’re a parent of a teen, it’s important to understand the benefits that CBT can provide for your child. CBT is an evidence-based therapy that can help individuals of all ages identify and change destructive behaviours and thought patterns, providing the tools to manage difficult emotions, build a sense of self-confidence, and ultimately make positive life changes. Call Venture Academy at 866.762.2211 or fill out our online contact form to learn more about how cognitive-behavioural therapy could help your teen.
