The efficacy of CBT for anxiety disorders was consistently strong, despite some notable heterogeneity in the specific anxiety pathology, comparison conditions, follow-up data, and severity level. Large effect sizes were reported for the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder, and at least medium effect sizes for social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Medium to large CBT treatment effects were reported for somatoform disorders, such as hypochondriasis and body dysmorphic disorder.
What Happens During a CBT Session?
- Further, exposure, cognitive restructuring, social skills training and both group/individual formats were equally efficacious (Powers, Sigmarsson, & Emmelkamp, 2008), with superior performance over psychopharmacology in the long term (Fedoroff & Taylor, 2001).
- Rational emotive behavior therapy later sparked the creation of cognitive behavior therapy.
- The meta-analytic studies that provided response rates are listed in Table 1.
- As these three components interact, they interfere with normal cognitive processing, leading to impairments in perception, memory, and problem-solving, with the person becoming obsessed with negative thoughts.
- To establish a healthy relationship with emotions, it’s vital to accept and validate them.
- CBT often targets cognitive distortions, or irrational patterns of thought that can negatively affect behavior.
You can also search for therapists online through local and state psychological associations. A therapist can be a psychologist, psychiatrist (a medical doctor who can prescribe medications), psychiatric nurse, social worker or family therapist. Your therapist will encourage you to talk about your thoughts and feelings and what’s troubling you. If your health insurance doesn’t adequately cover CBT, you may consider looking into teletherapy and free CBT apps that are more affordable than traditional in-office therapy.
Harvard Health Publishing
Once the therapist has a better idea of who you are, the challenges you face, and your goals for cognitive behavioral therapy, they can help you increase your awareness of the thoughts and beliefs you have that are unhelpful or unrealistic. Next, strategies are implemented to help you develop healthier thoughts and behavior patterns. Self-monitoring can provide your therapist with the information they need to provide the best treatment. For example, for people with eating disorders, self-monitoring may involve keeping track of eating habits, as well as any thoughts or feelings that went along with consuming a meal or snack. In cognitive behavioral therapy, people are often taught new skills that can be used in real-world situations. For example, someone with a substance use disorder might practice new coping skills and rehearse ways to avoid or deal with social situations that could potentially trigger a relapse.
- It generally requires fewer sessions than other types of therapy and is done in a structured way.
- The sadness and frustration are likely healthy negative emotions and may lead her to study harder from then on.
- The review emphasizes gaps in research on using CBT to treat eating disorders.
- There was also evidence (e.g., Zimmerman et al., 2005) that CBT is a particularly promising adjunct to pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia patients who suffer from an acute episode of psychosis rather than a more chronic condition.
Therapists’ Professional Backgrounds
For example, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, has been found to be a highly effective short-term treatment for chronic insomnia; it is now the recommended first-line treatment for individuals struggling with insomnia. Another example is enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT-E, a form of CBT specifically designed to treat eating disorders. Brief cognitive behavioral therapy, or BCBT, is a shortened form of CBT used in situations where the client is not able to undergo a longer course of therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of talking therapy that can be used to treat people https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-long-does-alcohol-stay-in-your-system-blood-and-urine/ with a wide range of mental health problems, including anxiety disorders (e.g., generalized anxiety, social anxiety) or depression. Furthermore, there was evidence for superior performance of behavioral approaches in the treatment of problematic gambling as compared to control treatments (Oakley-Browne et al., 2000). CBT is among the most widely-utilized therapeutic approaches, so many people are able to locate a therapist in their area who practices it, but CBT has also been found to be effective when delivered online.
Somatoform Disorders
Cognitive therapy helps people develop alternative ways of thinking and behaving to reduce their psychological distress. CBT aims to help people become aware of when they make negative interpretations and of behavioral patterns that reinforce distorted thinking. Therefore, negative and unrealistic thoughts can cause us distress and result in problems.
CBT for depression was more effective than control conditions such as waiting list or no treatment, with a medium effect size (van Straten, Geraedts, Verdonck-de Leeuw, Andersson, & Cuijpers, 2010; Beltman, Oude Voshaar, & Speckens, 2010). However, studies that compared CBT to other active treatments, such as psychodynamic treatment, problem-solving therapy, and interpersonal psychotherapy, found mixed results. Specifically, meta-analyses found CBT to be equally effective in comparison to other psychological treatments (e.g., Beltman, cognitive behavioral therapy Oude Voshaar, & Speckens, 2010; Cuijpers, Smit, Bohlmeijer, Hollon, & Andersson, 2010; Pfeiffer, Heisler, Piette, Rogers, & Valenstein, 2011). Other studies, however, found favorable results for CBT (e.g. Di Giulio, 2010; Jorm, Morgan, & Hetrick, 2008; Tolin, 2010). For example, Jorm and colleagues (2008) found CBT to be superior to relaxation techniques at post-treatment. Additionally, Tolin (2010) showed CBT to be superior to psychodynamic therapy at both post-treatment and at six months follow-up, although this occurred when depression and anxiety symptoms were examined together.
Similarly, interoceptive exposure for treatment of panic disorder was moderately effective and superior to control/pill placebo treatments and applied relaxation (Haby, Donnelly, Corry, & Vos, 2006; Furukawa, Watanabe, & Churchill, 2007). For panic disorder without agoraphobia, combination treatment of CBT and applied relaxation was equal in efficacy to use of either therapy approach alone, and use of either or both were superior to use of medications (Mitte, 2005). In sum, our review of meta-analytic studies examining the efficacy of CBT demonstrated that this treatment has been used for a wide range of psychological problems. In general, the evidence-base of CBT is very strong, and especially for treating anxiety disorders.
