Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Page Contents
spiral2grow, a leading provider of cognitive behavioral therapy in New York City, has experts to include cognitive behavioral psychotherapists and cognitive counselors, who are expert in cognitive behavioral problems and solutions. spiral2grow, located in midtown Manhattan at 260 Madison #8023, New York, NY 10016, offers CBT treatment for anger management, self esteem, social anxiety, as well as couples and relationships. CBT is provided in many format individual counseling, couples counseling as well as group counseling.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – CBT
Cognitive behavioral Therapy or CBT in short is a modern psychotherapy treatment for many issues. It is a state-of-the-art, highly effective treatment to many psychological disorders. The simplicity and elegancy of cognitive therapy model has proven to be the most powerful and effective type of psychotherapy treatment in outcome studies conducted over the past many years.
CBT is a a collaborative approach between the patient and therapist. Together, patient and CBT therapist develop a trusting relationship and mutually discuss the presenting problems to be prioritized and explored in therapy. In Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, troubling issues are addressed and become the focus of treatment. As a result, the patient tends to feel relieved and encouraged that the main problems tare immediately being acknowledged and treated. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is a straight forward approach, in which problems are tackled directly in a very practical manner. The client is coached on the ABC’s of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. The therapist explains the connection between thoughts and beliefs and their impact on emotions and behavior. How the patient thinks about problems determines the way in which the individual responds to various issues. It’s the manner of thinking about life’s issues that steers the patient’s way of behaving.
Cognitive theory states that human responses are governed by emotions, which actually cloud our logic. This is why changing the way we think change the way we think. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Cognitive Behavioral Counseling (CBT) is based on the premise that our belief system, thoughts and expectations about a person or event or situation influence the way we feel. This means that the feelings we experience are not the result of or inherent in of the situation itself or that others do not cause our feelings. It means that by having certain way of thinking, we create our feelings. This knowledge fundamentally has changed the way psychological therapy is conducted and scientifically proven that once we change the way we think, we can change the way we feel about the situation. As such, we can have control of our feelings, much like we have control over other choices we make in our life.
Cognitive-Behavioral therapist or CBT psychotherapist in NYC will help you explore the depths and source of the thoughts and feelings you carry. An effective counselor or a coach will take the necessary time that s is needed to truly, deeply, and respectfully understand and appreciate the source of a belief and the way you think. It is through this understanding, not through countering, that healing happens in any therapy, including Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. Yet, a successful psychotherapist don’t stop there as a successful treatment must create a behavioral change – a long lasting change.
ABC of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The ABC model was created by Dr. Albert Ellis, and its name refers to the key elements of the model. Here’s what each letter stands for:
A. Activating event or adversity.
B. Your beliefs about the event or situation. It involves the first/conscious thoughts that comes to mind as well as underlying, unconscious thoughts about situations, yourself, and others.
C. Consequences, which includes the impact of the triggering thoughts on your emotional and behavioral response.
In this approach the assumption is that B (belief) connects A (Activating event) and C (Consequences). Additionally, B is considered to be the most important component. That’s because CBT focuses on changing beliefs (B) in order to create more positive consequences (C).
When using the ABC model, the psychotherapists help explore the connection between B and C. They will uncover unhealthy way of thinking and focus on your emotional and behavioral responses and the automatic beliefs that drive such feelings and behaviors. A main part of the therapy process is to help the client reevaluate these beliefs and see if they truly serving the client. Over time, you’ll learn how to recognize other potential beliefs (B) about adverse events (A). This allows opportunity for healthier consequences (C) and helps you move forward.
Unhealthy way of thinking
The premise of CBT is having realistic and healthy thoughts. Negative and unrealistic thoughts can cause us distress and result in problems. When a person suffers with psychological distress, the way in which they interpret situations becomes skewed, which in turn has a negative impact on the actions they take.
Here are categories of some of the major unhealthy thoughts – also called Cognitive Distortions
Aaron Beck first proposed the theory behind cognitive distortions and David Burns was responsible for popularizing it with common names and examples for the distortions.
Filtering.
We take the negative details and magnify them while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation. For instance, a person may pick out a single, unpleasant detail and dwell on it exclusively so that their vision of reality becomes darkened or distorted.
Polarized Thinking (or “Black and White” Thinking).
In polarized thinking, things are either “black-or-white.” We have to be perfect or we’re a failure — there is no middle ground. You place people or situations in “either/or” categories, with no shades of gray or allowing for the complexity of most people and situations. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.
Overgeneralization.
In this cognitive distortion, we come to a general conclusion based on a single incident or a single piece of evidence. If something bad happens only once, we expect it to happen over and over again. A person may see a single, unpleasant event as part of a never-ending pattern of defeat.
Jumping to Conclusions.
Without individuals saying so, we know what they are feeling and why they act the way they do. In particular, we are able to determine how people are feeling toward us.
For example, a person may conclude that someone is reacting negatively toward them but doesn’t actually bother to find out if they are correct. Another example is a person may anticipate that things will turn out badly, and will feel convinced that their prediction is already an established fact.
Catastrophizing.
We expect disaster to strike, no matter what. This is also referred to as “magnifying or minimizing.” We hear about a problem and use what if questions (e.g., “What if tragedy strikes?” “What if it happens to me?”).
For example, a person might exaggerate the importance of insignificant events (such as their mistake, or someone else’s achievement). Or they may inappropriately shrink the magnitude of significant events until they appear tiny (for example, a person’s own desirable qualities or someone else’s imperfections).
Personalization.
Personalization is a distortion where a person believes that everything others do or say is some kind of direct, personal reaction to the person. We also compare ourselves to others trying to determine who is smarter, better looking, etc.
A person engaging in personalization may also see themselves as the cause of some unhealthy external event that they were not responsible for. For example, “We were late to the dinner party and caused the hostess to overcook the meal. If I had only pushed my husband to leave on time, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Control Fallacies.
If we feel externally controlled, we see ourselves as helpless a victim of fate. For example, “I can’t help it if the quality of the work is poor, my boss demanded I work overtime on it.” The fallacy of internal control has us assuming responsibility for the pain and happiness of everyone around us. For example, “Why aren’t you happy? Is it because of something I did?”
Fallacy of Fairness.
We feel resentful because we think we know what is fair, but other people won’t agree with us. As our parents tell us when we’re growing up and something doesn’t go our way, “Life isn’t always fair.” People who go through life applying a measuring ruler against every situation judging its “fairness” will often feel badly and negative because of it. Because life isn’t “fair” — things will not always work out in your favor, even when you think they should.
Blaming.
We hold other people responsible for our pain, or take the other track and blame ourselves for every problem. For example, “Stop making me feel bad about myself!” Nobody can “make” us feel any particular way — only we have control over our own emotions and emotional reactions.
Shoulds.
We have a list of ironclad rules about how others and we should behave. People who break the rules make us angry, and we feel guilty when we violate these rules. A person may often believe they are trying to motivate themselves with shoulds and shouldn’ts, as if they have to be punished before they can do anything.
For example, “I really should exercise. I shouldn’t be so lazy.” Mustsand oughts are also offenders. The emotional consequence is guilt. When a person directs should statements toward others, they often feel anger, frustration and resentment.
Emotional Reasoning.
We believe that what we feel must be true automatically. If we feel stupid and boring, then we must be stupid and boring. You assume that your unhealthy emotions reflect he way things really are — “I feel it, therefore it must be true.”
Fallacy of Change.
We expect that other people will change to suit us if we just pressure or cajole them enough. We need to change people because our hopes for happiness seem to depend entirely on them.
Global Labeling.
We generalize one or two qualities into a negative global judgment. These are extreme forms of generalizing, and are also referred to as “labeling” and “mislabeling.” Instead of describing an error in context of a specific situation, a person will attach an unhealthy label to themselves.
For example, they may say, “I’m a loser” in a situation where they failed at a specific task. When someone else’s behavior rubs a person the wrong way, they may attach an unhealthy label to him, such as “He’s a real jerk.” Mislabeling involves describing an event with language that is highly colored and emotionally loaded. For example, instead of saying someone drops her children off at daycare every day, a person who is mislabeling might say that “she abandons her children to strangers.”
Always Being Right.
We are continually on trial to prove that our opinions and actions are correct. Being wrong is unthinkable and we will go to any length to demonstrate our rightness. For example, “I don’t care how badly arguing with me makes you feel, I’m going to win this argument no matter what because I’m right.” Being right often is more important than the feelings of others around a person who engages in this cognitive distortion, even loved ones.
Heaven’s Reward Fallacy.
We expect our sacrifice and self-denial to pay off, as if someone is keeping score. We feel bitter when the reward doesn’t come.
So now that you know what cognitive distortions are, how do you go about undoing them?
Learn more about other psychotherapy approaches.
