Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Essay

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most commonly recommended forms of psychotherapy in the westernized world. It is supported by decades of clinical research and endorsed by the leading mental health organizations CBT is a technique that merges the processes of cognitive therapy and behavioural therapy into one form treatment. Cognitive therapy teaches how thinking patterns affect emotional state and behaviour, while behavioural therapy teaches how to change an individual’s learned reactions, which cause can avoidance and anxiety of specific situations. The combination of encouraging awareness and change in irrational and negative thinking patterns in order to alleviate the emotional symptoms in addition to training new behaviour …show more content…

It is thought to be very effective in treating depression in adolescents and adults. CBT is targeted to quickly resolve maladaptive thoughts and behaviours without inquiring greatly into why those thoughts and behaviours occur as opposed to other forms of psychotherapy. Though cognitive behavioural therapy acknowledges external factors influence life experience to some degree, it views personal thinking as having the greatest impact on your quality of life. This means that CBT may not be successful for individuals who have significant family issues, personal history or other forms of trauma as it does not directly address these …show more content…

Due to its relational nature, CBT also requires a positive relationship between client and therapist. CBT may not be an effective intervention for individuals with complex mental health issues. Critiques of CBT see this type of treatment to be surface level and believe it does not address problems to the core. Overall, this type of therapy is positive, however, its effectiveness is dependent upon factors, such as the type of disorder, patient’s willingness to change, support of the therapist, commitment to do the work, and attend the sessions. Additional work is needed to understand the predictors of patient outcomes and ways to better CBT

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