Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a popular type of counseling that can help people overcome many disorders. In fact, experts often use CBT in addiction and counseling treatment. However, what happens during CBT, and why do so many people find success with it? Understanding why CBT is so successful starts with learning about the techniques that experts use.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques
The goal of CBT is to help people change negative thoughts and beliefs. Negative thoughts ultimately shape attitudes and behaviors. The idea is that eliminating them can break negative behaviors such as addiction. There are many cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that psychologists use to achieve this goal.
A vast majority of the techniques focus on cognitive distortions. These are negative emotions that result from inaccurate thoughts. Experts characterize negative thoughts that simply aren’t true as cognitive distortions.
Journaling
This Texas addiction therapy typically includes journaling. This technique involves keeping a journal of thoughts and moods. Having this information is important to help people identify their negative emotions and thought patterns.
Cognitive Restructuring
Many cognitive behavioral therapy techniques also focus on cognitive restructuring. Restructuring occurs after people identity their inaccurate or distorted views. Through cognitive restructuring, they can challenge these deep-rooted inaccuracies.
For example, thinking that everyone in the world hates them is a faulty belief. This illogical thinking doesn’t even make sense because they haven’t met everyone in the world. This fact alone debunks that distorted thought.
Exposure and Response Prevention
Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a popular technique for people who struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or addiction. The idea behind this CBT technique is to expose people to whatever typically causes their compulsive thoughts. Through training, they work on their responses to these situations.
ERP is helpful for people who have an addiction because certain triggers often cause them to use drugs. They have to work on their responses to these triggers to avoid relapse after treatment.
Act It Out Until the End
Acting or playing out a situation until the end is a unique type of CBT. This technique works well for people who suffer from anxiety.
It involves acting out events that cause anxiety. As they do that, they think of the worst scenario possible. Doing so shows them that even if their fears come true, it’s not the end of the world.
CBT Can Help
Do you struggle with addiction or another mental disorder? If so, CBT might hold the answers that you seek. Drug addiction and counseling centers often use CBT to achieve fast results. Beyond that, they use other services such as:
- Individual and group therapies
- Mindfulness meditation
- Holistic therapy
- Inpatient rehab
- Intensive outpatient treatment
- Gender-specific rehab
Don’t let a mental disorder or an addiction control your life. Find out more about how cognitive behavioral therapy techniques can help you. Get the treatment that you need today.
