WHAT IS COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a combination of two highly effective and well-researched forms of therapy: Cognitive Therapy and Behavioral Therapy. It involves partnering with your therapist to examine the way in which your thoughts affect your feelings in order to change your thinking patterns.
In CBT, you work with your therapist to log your thoughts and evaluate how adaptive they are. Then you work to change your thinking patterns in ways that allow you to minimize unwanted feelings such as depression or anxiety. Behavior therapy has several elements. First you may work with your therapist to master certain fear provoking situations by confronting them one small step at a time. In this way you may safely lessen the connection between the things you may be afraid of (social situations, panic attacks, public speaking, etc) and your anxious response. Other techniques of behavioral therapy involve increasing activities that give you pleasure or increase relaxation. Behavioral therapy works to teach techniques that promote anxiety reduction and overall feelings of well-being. Together Cognitive Therapy and Behavioral Therapy form a style of therapy which is present-focused and believes in active collaboration between therapist and client. At the Union Square Practice, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is geared toward helping individuals take steps to make adjustments to their thoughts and actions that result in positive changes in the way they feel.
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