What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? According to Psychology Today, cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on goals and solutions rather than looking to the deep past to find what is causing future behavior. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, focuses on changing patterns of behavior. CBT also focuses on perceptions and how they alter patients’ realities. Cognitive behavioral techniques and strategies focus on overcoming inaccurate thoughts and distortions of reality. CBT is mainly used to treat anxiety and depression, but can also be used to treat PTSD, eating disorders, OCD, etc. Psychologists agree that CBT is a very effective form of therapy. So, let’s take a look at some techniques to use with patients! Cognitive Behavioral Techniques Self-awareness The first step to take in cognitive behavioral therapy is to understand what a patient is feeling. CBT therapists focus on how situations affect thoughts which affect feelings. So, a patient may be feeling anxious. The first step is for the patient to understand and recognize that he/she is feeling anxious. Usually, this anxiety can turn into catastrophizing. This is when someone takes a normal thought and pushes it to its limits. For example, someone “had a bad day at work today.” With catastrophizing, a patient can quickly start to think “I had a bad day at work today, so I am going to get fired and lose everything.” The purpose of CBT is to get to the root of the feeling, usually stemming from situations. Then, when someone identifies the root, he/she can change behavior and modes of thought. Calming Techniques Most of our anxiety stems from irrational thoughts. An example of an irrational thought is stubbing your toe and then believing your foot will be broken forever. Irrational anxiety or depression can be the scariest because of the unknown. With rational anxiety, a patient is anxious because of a particular situation. He/she failed a test and now is anxious he/she will fail the class. However, irrational anxiety (or just feelings) can be inexplicable. Someone may be feeling anxious and unable to identify any situations that would rationally cause the anxiety. The best way to cope with irrational feelings is through calming cognitive behavioral techniques. A popular technique is to journal. Therapists recommend journaling as a way to help express patients’ thoughts. A patient can...