Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on cognition: your thoughts, behaviours and actions. One way of describing the logic of CBT is to say that people feel the way they think. But CBT also works closely at analysing behaviours, since how people act is often determined by how they feel. Furthermore, the way that people act can have either a positive or a negative influence on their feelings. People can be behaving in ways that are actually fulfilling the bad feelings. The interaction between thoughts, feelings and behaviours is at the core of CBT. Therefore, a therapist looks closely at how individuals think and act to help them to overcome both behavioural and emotional difficulties.
In my work, I start by analysing patients' patterns of thoughts, which gives me a better understanding of erroneous beliefs. These can lead to potentially destructive behaviours or toxic feelings. Thoughts and feelings are always interconnected, it doesn't matter which one comes first.
Having someone to analyse one's thoughts is very effective in promoting our health. Even though people think that they have reasonable consciousness about the nature of their beliefs, more often than expected, they jeopardise simple activities through erroneous thoughts. Once they can challenge these problematic thoughts with adequate support, they will enjoy a significantly healthier emotional state.
CBT can be used to treat a myriad of psychological problems, such as general anxiety disorder (GAD), depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The therapist should also challenge the patient's routine by setting up targets to be achieved and homework to be completed.