For some sufferers of depression, or those attempting to recover from the condition, negative thoughts can be one of the biggest obstacles to overcome.
As part of a continuous cycle, negative thoughts can influence our feelings and actions or behavior, which can in turn lead to having more negative thoughts. Clearly, dealing with negative thoughts can help stop this cycle from continuing.
While it’s difficult to stop thoughts of any kind from appearing, knowing how to lessen or negate their effect can be very effective.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one type of behavioral therapy that can help to do this. By helping the client to identify and overcome their negative thoughts, a behavioral therapist can help break the cycle that is harming their mental, and possibly their physical, well-being.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a talking therapy that aims to help the client manage their problems by changing the way they think and behave.
It doesn’t attempt to eradicate the problems, but helps the client to deal with them in more positive ways. This is often achieved by breaking down larger issues into smaller segments, which are easier to tackle.
Unlike some other behavioral therapies, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Branford doesn’t focus on past issues. It is concerned with dealing with negative thoughts today and in the future.
What Can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Help with?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help with common issues such as depression, anxiety, OCD, panic disorders, PTSD, phobias, eating disorders, sleep problems, and alcohol misuse.
Depression is not necessarily an absence of positive thoughts. In some cases, the issue is that the sufferer simply doesn’t allow themselves to feel them. It’s these people that can benefit from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Common problematic thought processes, or cognitive distortions, include the filtering out of positive elements, all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralizing, jumping to conclusions, and fallacies of fairness, change, blame, and ‘shoulds.’
What Happens During a Course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sessions may be carried out on a one-to-one basis, or they may be group sessions. A common schedule would see the client attend one session per week for between five and twenty weeks, depending on the client’s needs.
During the sessions, the therapist will work with the client to break down the problems into smaller parts. These may include thoughts, physical feelings, and actions. By analyzing these factors, the therapist and client can work together to find the most relevant aspects of their thoughts or behavior to work on.
The client will be expected to practice any changes or advice given between sessions and report their progress. The eventual aim is to empower the client to manage their problems by themselves after the treatment is finished.
The vicious cycle of negative thoughts, feelings, and actions is something that can destroy a person’s life if left untreated.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a proven method of helping sufferers to overcome this and remain in control of their thoughts, feelings, and actions in the long term.
For anybody looking for behavioral therapy in New Heven, The Center for NeuroPotential and their board-qualified team are highly experienced.
To see if they are compatible with your own counselling or therapy needs, visit them online at Center for NeuroPotential. You can also follow them on Google+.
