COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY (CBT)

How can Cognitive Behavior Therapy help you? "Cognitive" refers to how you are thinking and feeling about things at a particular moment. People who are depressed or anxious often are thinking in an illogical, negative manner, and end up acting in a self-defeating way. But, we can train ourselves to straighten out our incorrect thought patterns. And this can be accomplished in a relatively short period of time, using straightforward methods of CBT.

CBT is a simple but powerful way to feel good again. If you are willing to invest a little time in yourself, you can learn to master your moods more effectively. CBT is done in a way that makes clear and obvious sense. What you can learn through CBT is practical, which leads to emotional relief. The principle of CBT is that all our moods are created by our thoughts, the way we look at things - our perceptions, mental attitudes and beliefs. CBT includes the way we interpret things, what we say about something or someone to our self. We feel the way we do right now because of the thoughts we are thinking at this moment. Every bad feeling we have is the result of our distorted negative thinking. Illogical pessimistic attitudes play the central role in the development and continuation of all our symptoms.

Through CBT, you can learn to apply your reasoning skills and powers of observation to situations in your life which are causing anxiety and depression. You learn how to determine how realistic your ideas/thoughts are. Gradually you can eliminate the distortions and inaccuracies in your own thinking, which leads to a workable, anxiety free approach to dealing with life situations.

Often people don't realize they have so many anxiety producing thoughts. By keeping track of these thoughts, you will find that the errors in your thinking fall into these general categories: Exaggerating, Catastrophizing, Over generalizing and Ignoring the Positive. You can learn methods for coping that you can use throughout your life.

Thoughts can occur as automatic thoughts beyond our awareness. Cognitive distortions can be:

• All-or-Nothing Thinking
  
  
• Overgeneralization
  
  
• Mental Filter (picking out negative details and dwelling on them exclusively)
  
  
• Disqualifying the Positive
  
  
• Jumping to Conclusions
  
  
• Mind-reading
  
  
• Fortune-telling
  
  
• Magnification
  
  
• Minimization
  
  
• Emotional Reasoning
  
  
• Should Statements
  
  
• Labeling
  
  
• Personalization
  
  
• Self Blame
  
  
• Magical Thinking (superstitious thoughts)
  
  
• Comparing
  
  

CBT can teach us that by changing the way we think we can alter our moods, deal with emotional problems, and get rid of depression. Once you make the decision and begin to carry it out, you will become aware of more power and control already within yourself. Effort is required for any significant changes are to take place. It does take time and effort to isolate old thought patterns and develop ways to counteract and get rid of them. But the methods you learn are applicable throughout life!

Suggested Readings:

• Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns, M.D. Penguin, Inc., 1980.
  
  
• The Feeling Good Handbook by David Burns, M.D. Penguin, Inc., 1989.
  
  
• Getting Undepressed by Gary Emery. Simon & Schuster, 1980.
  
  
• Hope and Help For Your Nerves by C. Weekes. New York: Bantam, 1978.
  
  
• More Help For Your Nerves by C. Weekes. New York: Bantam, 1987.