What is cognitive behavioral therapy?

By: Dr. Jennifer B. Baxt, DMFT, NCC, DCC

Cognitive behavior therapy is one of the many forms of psychotherapy that focuses on the emotions or thoughts that might be causing a person distress in some way. This form of psychotherapy is often used to help people who suffer from types of anxiety, depression, or even individuals with mood disorders. To achieve this in a patient who may be suffering from depression, the online therapist will try to focus on turning negative thoughts into positive ones. If someone is suffering from a phobia, then the online counselor might get the patient to imagine themselves in a situation that helps them start to face their fear. If a person is suffering from mood disorders, then the therapist could find ways to encourage change in the way the patient views things and how they think about different situations. These are some vague examples, but it hopefully gets the main idea across. To put it simply, cognitive behavioral therapy is where the professional will use different techniques, depending on the patient’s trouble, to alter the patient’s thoughts and/or behavior to more positive, so the patient can function in society properly without their anxiety, disorder or depression holding them back.

While it is suggested that going to a counselor for this type is therapy is best for getting the most out of it, there are apparently online counseling people can get in order to save themselves the trouble of going out and seeing a therapist in person. It allows them to go through the therapeutic steps from the comfort of their own home. This could almost be classified as a type of online therapy, which in many other cases can be quite effective. Personal interaction with the online therapist through webcam therapy can often help the patient to focus more and to even possibly work through the steps a little quicker, than if the patient had remained at home to do it.

How effective is cognitive behavioral therapy? It has been said by many, as a result of research that has been done to compare the effectiveness of antidepressants and this type of psychotherapy, that cognitive behavioral therapy is just effective as antidepressants. Research has shown that patients who received the cognitive behavioral therapy showed the same amount of improvement as the patients who were receiving medication for their condition. One positive point for the non-medicinal therapy appeared to show that the patients who took the cognitive therapy had a lesser likelihood of relapsing into their previous condition. So, it appears that the cognitive behavioral therapy is probably the better of the two options because it has a higher chance of succeeding than the medication that appears to be more of a temporary fix.

In the end, it seems that counseling online for cognitive behavioral therapy really is quite an effective treatment for most who are suffering from such difficulties as mood disorders, anxieties or depression. It takes time, but the results appear to be worth it for those who have put the effort and time into consulting a therapist who can help them work out their difficulties through this particular type of psychotherapy.

In psychology there are many types of therapy. This article focuses on cognitive behavioral therapy and counseling online.

Dr. Jennifer Baxt, DMFT, NCC,DCC is the owner of CompleteCounselingSolutions.com which offers a variety of online counseling services. If you would like to know more about Jennifer or any of our online therapists, visit our website.

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