Unit 1- Introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Why is CBT an effective Therapy?

Watch the video below for a short introduction to CBT.

Introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a dynamic solution focussed model of Psychotherapy. It can help people who are experiencing a wide range of mental health difficulties. What people think can affect how they feel and how they behave. This is the basis of CBT.

During times of mental distress, people think differently about themselves and what happens to them. Thoughts can become extreme and unhelpful. This can aggravate how a person feels. They may then behave in a way that prolongs their distress.
Behaviour therapy, the earliest of the cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, is based on the clinical application of extensively researched theories of behaviour, such as learning theory (in which the role of classical and operant conditioning are seen as primary). Cognitive therapy is based on the clinical application of the more recent, but now also extensive research into the prominent role of cognitions in the development of emotional disorders.

The term ‘Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy’ (CBT) is variously used to refer to behaviour therapy, cognitive therapy, and to therapy based on the pragmatic combination of principles of behavioural and cognitive theories. New CBT interventions are keeping pace with developments in the academic discipline of psychology in areas such as attention, perception, reasoning, decision making etc.
CBT can help each person identify and change their extreme thinking and unhelpful behaviour. In doing this, the result is often a major improvement in how a person feels and lives.
Cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies are a range of therapies based on concepts and principles derived from psychological models of human emotion and behaviour. They include a wide range of treatment approaches for emotional disorders, along a continuum from structured individual psychotherapy to self-help material.

Cognitive behavioural psychotherapies are psychological approaches based on scientific principles and which research has shown to be effective for a wide range of problems. It explores psychological problems in terms of the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The approach usually focuses on difficulties in the present and is not so concerned with past events. The treatments are inherently empowering in nature, the outcome being to focus on specific psychological and practical skills (e.g. in reflecting on and exploring the meaning attributed to events and situations and re-evaluation of those meanings) aimed at enabling the person to tackle their problems by harnessing their own resources. The acquisition and utilisation of such skills is seen as the main goal and the active component in promoting change with an emphasis on putting what has been learned into practice by doing written awareness reports. Thus the overall aim is for the individual to attribute the improvement in their problems to their own efforts. The approaches can be used to help anyone irrespective of ability, culture, race, gender or sexual preference. Cognitive and/or behavioural psychotherapies can be used on their own or in conjunction with medication, depending on the severity or nature of each client’s problem.

The Evidence Base for CBT.

Treatment interventions are predicated on a robust evidence base derived from studies utilising randomised controlled and single-case methodologies that have demonstrated the efficacy and effectiveness of cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies in the treatment of common mental health problems, including the
anxiety disorders, generalised anxiety, panic, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, bulimia and depression as identified by a host of recent reviews by highly reputable review bodies.

The application of cognitive-behavioural theory and approaches is happening in many fields other than mental health, eg. Education and training, public health, organisational psychology, forensic psychology, management consultancy, sports psychology for instance.

The cognitive component in CBT refers to how people think about and create meaning about situations, symptoms and events in their lives and develop beliefs about themselves, others and the world. Cognitive therapy uses techniques to help people become more aware of how they reason, and the kinds of automatic thought that spring to mind and give meaning to things.
Cognitive interventions use a style of questioning to probe for peoples’ meanings and use this to stimulate alternative viewpoints or ideas. This is called ‘guided discovery’, and involves exploring and reflecting on the style of reasoning and thinking, and possibilities to think differently and more helpfully. On the basis of these alternatives, people carry out behavioural experiments to test out the accuracy of these alternatives and thus adopt new ways of perceiving and acting. Overall the intention is to move away from more extreme and unhelpful ways of seeing things to more helpful and balanced conclusions.

The behavioural component in the CBT refers to the way in which people respond when distressed. Responses such as avoidance, reduced activity and unhelpful behaviours can act to keep the problems going or worsen how the person feels. CBT aims to help the person feel safe enough to gradually test out their assumptions and fears and change their behaviours. For example, this might include helping people to gradually face feared or avoided situations as a means of reducing anxiety and learning new behavioural skills to tackle problems.

Importantly the cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies aim to directly target distressing symptoms, reduce distress, re-evaluate thinking and promote helpful behavioural responses by offering problem-focused skills-based treatment interventions.