Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
When we are feeling overwhelmed, our thoughts can become unhealthy.
Do you find that you ruminate over negative thoughts, and struggle to let go once these thoughts begin? Do these thoughts cause you to assume the worst when a setback happens, or worry for no reason?
Life can get complicated.
Any of the mental health challenges that people experience can express themselves through negative thoughts and emotions.
Do you find that your thoughts often upset you? You might find that the thoughts you think have an effect on the emotions you feel - so that when you have an upsetting thought, your emotions reflect them.
Do you feel like you are stuck in an unhealthy cycle?
The thoughts that you think become fixations, and you find yourself feeling stuck in this cycle of thought and behaviors that end up affecting your wellbeing and quality of life.
We all have our personal struggles, but at times you find it hard to manage: you feel stuck in your emotions, and not sure how to break the cycle of racing thoughts, low moods and big emotions. Maybe you find yourself feeling intense emotions that seem to come out of nowhere.
Dealing with daily life is difficult because of these heavy feelings, and you may worry that your emotions control you more than you control them. Sometimes, you don’t understand why you feel the way you do. You see the connection between your thoughts and feelings, but you aren’t sure how to balance them.
Begin the Process of Healing Today.
Our therapists at Healing Voices Psychotherapy are here to help. Please call our virtual clinic at 705-715-9107 for your consultation.
You have the power to change your perception and achieve a peaceful mind.
Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy you can learn to reframe your mindset and overcome thought processes that are no longer serving you. CBT therapy is a widely used therapeutic approach because it helps you rewire your thought processes.
Using CBT, your therapist will guide you through a journey of greater and more compassionate self-understanding. We are here to help you gain clarity and understanding on how your thoughts contribute to your emotions, so that you have the power to change their direction and regain control.
Your therapist will help you transform ineffective or negative thoughts into constructive thoughts which in turn positively can affect your behaviors. With practice and mindfulness, this becomes a habit, giving you an independent, self help tool to live your life with greater ease.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, also known as CBT, is a technique developed by Aaron Beck. Through talk sessions, negative thought processes are identified and then modified. This modality is based on the concept that our perceptions, or the way we interpret events, impacts the emotions we feel. This interactive method centers around the concept that feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are all related to one another and impact each other.
The goal is to guide you to be able to independently learn how to identify and correct unhelpful thoughts, which creates positive changes in your emotional wellbeing. Our psychotherapists use this evidence- based approach because of the research supporting it with good client outcomes. Research has shown positive outcomes in studies where CBT was implemented, making it a widely used, evidence-based approach. In fact, statistics show that CBT is 50-75% effective in overcoming challenges of anxiety symptoms and depression symptoms following regular sessions.
By engaging in CBT exercises you will gain the ability to observe your thoughts from a new perspective. The benefits of CBT is that the individual can use it anytime on their own. The tools learned in this journey will help you frame your thoughts in a constructive way when you are experiencing difficult moments. There are a wide variety of people who are likely to find CBT helpful. The nature of this therapeutic approach is geared to provide relief for a variety of mental health issues, and can help people experiencing depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, phobias, PTSD, eating disorders, and substance misuse, among other conditions.
How do our sessions work using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy we begin with a thorough assessment and goal-setting process. Our psychotherapists use CBT to explore the relationship between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and how they are interconnected. In therapy you will learn to address the thoughts you are having and problem solve to determine whether these thoughts are supportive or unhelpful.
Through this journey together, you will practice behavioural strategies and go through homework assignments to create good habits outside your sessions which reinforce skills learned in therapy. Over time, you will develop a mental health toolkit that can be used day-to-day to reassess reactions as they occur, allowing you to develop mindfulness and long lasting positive changes in your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, enhancing your overall quality of life.
Engaging in CBT can help you:
- Increase your resiliency when faced with setbacks.
- Learn to analyze your thoughts, and evaluate if they are supported by evidence.
- Empower you to restructure your thought processes and modify ineffective beliefs.
- Develop coping techniques when you are experiencing challenges in your life.
- Learn evidence-based techniques that give you the tools to reframe your mindset.
- Relieve anxiety, depression, panic and tame the inner critic.
- Change your persistent negative thoughts and disempowering core beliefs.
We offer a unique approach to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
We are skilled in using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in conjunction with other modalities to ensure that you receive the greatest benefit possible. For example, DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy) was created to expand upon the foundations of CBT while focusing on applications of emotional validation and acceptance. DBT approaches the challenge of working on the emotions which fuel ineffective behavior by getting the individual to engage in emotional self-regulation through a lens of acceptance and mindfulness.
You can become confident that although difficult emotions will happen, you will develop skills that enable you to handle them. While CBT and DBT have their respective approaches to how emotions are processed, both look to create positive change in a person’s thoughts and behaviors. We synthesize our approach to engage in acceptance that difficult situations will happen, while reframing ineffective patterns of thoughts and behaviors that can be experienced during them.
Perhaps you are considering CBT but have some concerns. Maybe you are experiencing thoughts such as…
I’m worried this experience will make me feel vulnerable and judged.
We understand that talking about your thoughts, and expressing how you feel, is challenging for anyone. An important cornerstone of CBT is that you explore these thoughts and feelings in a non-judgemental way. In fact, a goal of CBT is to develop a healthier relationship between your thoughts and emotional reactions to them, by being able to observe your thoughts without judgment and self-criticism. Your CBT therapist will work with you to create a safe, non-judgemental space within which you can process your emotions and learn new strategies.
How do I create change by just talking about my problems?
In CBT, you do work through current issues by talking through them, but you also work on the things you learn by yourself to reinforce the skills you work on in a session. Through exercises done outside of your sessions, you can strengthen these cognitive reframing processes which will enable you to question unhelpful thoughts as you experience them, and adjust your thinking to a more supportive, balanced self-talk on your own. The approach offers a unique skill-set that leads to greater personal resilience, so that you are confident and capable in reframing unhelpful thoughts that occur in everyday life.
What can I expect from these sessions? How long is treatment?
Following a consultation, your first session will involve goal-setting with your therapist. Through these sessions, the aim is that you will progress towards and achieve goals which improve your current thoughts and behaviors and improve your psychological well-being. The meeting periods with your therapist are structured and completed in a short time, with many clients completing therapy between 6-20 sessions.