CACBP

Cyprus Association for Cognitive & Behavioural Psychotherapists

What is CBT

Brief introduction to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is usually a brief form of psychotherapy and constitutes one of the most widespread, credible and valid psychotherapeutic approaches.

Its main goal is to provide support, through a relationship of cooperation, focused on the “here and now”, in order to be able to overcome difficulties and achieve one’s personal goals.

According to Cognitivve Behavioural Psychtherapy, the way in which we understand and construe a certain situation or a series of events leads to emotions, behaviors and physical reactions.

  • Everyday difficulties
  • panic disorder
  • phobias
  • sleep disorders
  • psychoses
  • bipolar disorder
  • eating disorders
  • post-traumatic stress
  • obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • somatic symptoms disorders
  • depression
  • suicidal ideation
  • grief
  • sexual dysfunctions
  • personality disorders
  • generalized anxiety disorder

Key Elements

In detail, the main characteristic of CBT, is the focus on “here and now” problemes, meaning that it concentrates on the difficulty that a person is facing at that point in time.By using certain methods and techniques, supports the person to overcome his difficulties and to achieve the goals set during the therapeutic process.

Another main characteristic of CBT, is the cooperation between the therapist and the person , since they actively participate in the therapeutic process, by setting goals and discussing the way they will work in order to achieve the goals.

Moreover, the main characteristic of CBT is the structured procedure. A specific ajenda is defined for each session, set out by the participants so that certain points are being processed in each session.

session

Through the sessions, CBT detects the vicious circles in whic the person is trapped. These repetitions prevent people from achieving their goals.

Additionally, CBT focuses on the detection of non realistic/non helpful thought patterns, that cultivate the repetitions. CBT aims to replace them with more realistic/helpful thoughts, which will help the person to control its feelings and adapt more functional and effective behaviors, in order to achieve its goals.

The key philosophy of CBT is that everyone is able to overcome personal difficulties, if they get to know themselves and learn new more effective ways and methods to achieve it. Therefore, under a specific structure, the the person is reinforced and provided with a number of tools, which can be used and after the completion of the therapy, promoting the autonomy of the person onprobleme solving.

As already mentioned above, the duration of the therapy is brief. The number of sessions is determined according to the needs of each person. The duration of each session usually ranges from 45 to 60 minutes and all of the above can also be implemented in sessions with more than one participant, for example in family therapy, couple’s therapy and/or group therapy.

CΒΤ can provide support concerning a wide range of difficulties such as: everyday difficulties, panic disorder, phobias, sleep disorders, psychoses, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress, obsessive- compulsive disorder, somatic symptoms disorders, depression, suicidal ideation, grief, sexual dysfunctions, personality disorders, generalized anxiety disorder etc.

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