Foundations of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Theoretical aspects of CBT) Principles of CBT

Foundations of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Theoretical aspects of CBT) Principles of CBT

CBT theory suggests that our thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and behavior are all connected, and that what we think and do affects the way we feel. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps people identify and change thinking and behavior patterns that are harmful or ineffective, replacing them with more accurate thoughts and functional behaviors, It can help a person focus on current problems and how to solve them. It often involves practicing new skills in the “real world”. This video delineates the core principles of CBT, theory and building blocks of CBT. CBT aims to change how a person thinks (‘cognitive’) and what they do (‘behaviour’). CBT therefore uses both cognitive and behavioural techniques.

CBT is fundamentally about the meanings which people make of their experiences. CBT is often misrepresented as being concerned with ‘fixing’ faulty thought processes, being ‘rational’, or only working with ‘surface’ issues: but all of these are mischaracterizations. As we live our lives we interpret what is going on around us: we form beliefs and understandings. These meanings affect how we actually perceive the world. Sometimes our beliefs are distressing to us and can lead to unhelpful ways of acting. The role of a CBT therapist is to help their clients to understand and examine their beliefs: to help them to make sense of meanings

The insight of the CBT model is that it is not events that bother us. Instead, it is the way that we interpret events – the meaning that we give to them – that gives rise to our feelings. This explains why two people experiencing the same event can react in completely different ways.

Another important part of cognitive behavioral theory is that our thoughts, feelings, body sensations, and behavior are all inter-related and can affect one another. Things that we do (or things that happen to us) can affect what we think, which can in turn affect how we feel. If you have ever felt poorly with an illness, then you might have had the experience where your body feelings and emotions made you see the world in a ‘bleaker’ or more ‘catastrophic’ light. CBT therapists have lots of ways of representing the relationships between our attention, perception, thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

The level closest to the surface are automatic thoughts. These are thoughts or images which involuntarily ‘pop’ into our minds. They often appear in response to a trigger which can be an event, feeling, or another thought or memory. Automatic thoughts can be accurate (in which case CBT therapists would tend to leave them alone), or they can be biased (in which case they may merit further discussion).

The deepest level of cognitions are our core beliefs. These are often unspoken and may never have been verbalized. We often hold core beliefs as ‘truths’ about ourselves, the world, or other people, but it is important to remember that they are opinions and not facts. We are not born with them, but rather they are the product of our life experiences. They can be thought of as our implicit answers to the question “What has life taught you [about yourself, other people, or the world]?”. Core beliefs often take the form of ‘absolute’ statements.

The middle level of cognitions are intermediate beliefs, which often take the form of rules and assumptions. These can often be phrased in the form of “If… then” statements or contain the tell-tale words ‘should’ or ‘must’. We may hold on to our rules or assumptions as ways of preventing the worst consequences of our core beliefs from coming true.

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a pragmatic, action-oriented treatment approach that has become a widely used psychotherapy for major mental disorders. CBT methods were initially developed for depression and anxiety disorders and later they were modified for many other conditions, including personality disorders, eating disorders, and substance abuse

CBT is a powerful and flexible form of psychological therapy. There is a great deal of evidence that it is a helpful approach for a wide variety of problems including anxiety, depression, pain, and trauma. We know that it works when delivered face-to-face and can be effective as self-help.