During mental health treatment in Colorado and Illinois, our licensed and certified clinical staff dedicate their time to helping clients change their negative thought patterns, redefine their values, and live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a key element in mental health treatment. It provides a safe and supportive environment for people to express their emotions.
One of the most popular psychotherapies for mental health disorders used in treatment is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). The goal of CBT is to help someone change their patterns of thinking and behaving to improve their well-being. Elevare Behavioral Health offers CBT at our mental health treatment centers in Colorado and Illinois. Our skilled therapists use CBT in conjunction with other research-based and holistic therapies to help you overcome mental health disorders and move on to a brighter future.
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What Is CBT?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a proven effective form of talk therapy. It focuses on helping individuals identify and change negative thought patterns and behaviors. Negative thoughts and behaviors can contribute to emotional distress, mental health issues, and other problematic situations. The primary goal of CBT is to improve someone’s emotional well-being and build on their ability to cope with triggers and stressors in life.
CBT is based on the understanding that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected and influence each other. The key principles of cognitive behavioral therapy include:
- Identifying Negative Thought Patterns
CBT helps you become aware of your negative thought patterns. These are often beliefs that may be irrational, unrealistic, or harmful.
- Challenging and Restructuring Thoughts
CBT encourages you to challenge and reframe those thoughts into more realistic and positive ones. This cognitive restructuring aims to reduce the emotional distress associated with negative thinking.
- Examining Behavior Patterns
CBT focuses on analyzing behaviors and identifying maladaptive or problematic behaviors that may contribute to psychological difficulties.
- Behavioral Modification
CBT helps you learn and practice healthier coping strategies and problem-solving skills to manage challenging situations.
- Exposure Therapy
CBT may involve exposure therapy. This is where individuals are gradually exposed to feared situations to desensitize them and reduce anxiety.
What Does Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Treat?
CBT is used to treat a wide variety of mental health disorders. It can help reduce symptoms of mental illness and prevent them from becoming a problem in the future.
Some of the common conditions and issues that CBT can be used to treat include:
- Depression
CBT helps individuals identify and challenge negative thought patterns and beliefs that contribute to feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and low self-esteem. By restructuring these thoughts, individuals can experience improvements in mood and overall well-being.
- Bipolar Disorder
CBT can be used alongside medication to help individuals with bipolar disorder manage mood swings, cope with stress, and adhere to treatment plans.
- Anxiety Disorders
CBT is highly effective in treating various anxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and specific phobias. It helps individuals confront and manage their fears, reduce avoidance behaviors, and develop coping strategies to reduce anxiety.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
CBT, especially exposure and response prevention (ERP), is the gold standard treatment for OCD. It involves gradual exposure to anxiety-triggering situations and helps individuals resist engaging in compulsive behaviors, leading to symptom reduction.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
CBT, particularly trauma-focused CBT, is used to address the symptoms of PTSD by helping individuals process and reframe traumatic experiences, reducing intrusive thoughts and flashbacks, and promoting emotional healing.
- Substance Use Disorders
CBT is effective in treating individuals with substance use issues by identifying triggers and developing coping skills to resist cravings, manage urges, and maintain sobriety.
Mental health disorders are complex and influenced by many factors. CBT is proven effective in treating many mental health disorders. It’s often used as part of an overall recovery plan. The therapists at Elevare Behavioral Health can help create a unique plan for recovery tailored toward your needs.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Techniques
Your therapist at Elevare may use CBT as part of your treatment. Some of the most effective CBT techniques include:
- Journaling prompts and self-reflection
- Identifying and challenging cognitive distortions, or false beliefs
- Cognitive restructuring, or examining and reframing negative thoughts
- Playing the script, also called “what if” exercises for catastrophizing
- Progressive muscle relaxation, or mindful body relaxation
- Exposing and rescripting fears and phobias
- Interoceptive exposure for panic and anxiety
When receiving comprehensive mental health services, your treatment plan is tailored specifically for you and your needs. Your therapist will integrate CBT techniques based on your challenges, preferences, and goals for treatment.
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How Is CBT Used With Other Therapies?
During your treatment at Elevare, cognitive-behavioral therapy will be combined with other therapies for a more comprehensive and integrated approach to treatment.
By utilizing a holistic approach to mental health, your treatment team can help you explore other strategies such as physical activity, healthy eating habits, positive lifestyle changes, or stress management techniques. In doing so, you can receive comprehensive mental health services that can help you heal and reconnect with your mind, body, and spirit.
Medication Management
CBT is commonly combined with medication management for various mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorder. While medication can help manage symptoms, CBT can provide coping skills, address thought patterns, and help individuals develop healthier behaviors.
Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy is a psychological treatment technique that is commonly used to help individuals confront and overcome fears, anxieties, and traumatic experiences. When treating anxiety disorders, CBT can be combined with exposure therapy, which involves gradually facing feared situations to reduce anxiety.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
CBT can be integrated with dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which is a specialized form of therapy that focuses on emotion regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. DBT is commonly used for borderline personality disorder and other conditions involving intense emotional dysregulation.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a form of psychotherapy that encourages individuals to accept their thoughts and feelings while committing to values-driven actions. CBT and ACT can complement each other, with CBT targeting cognitive patterns and ACT promoting acceptance and mindfulness.
Mindfulness-Based Therapies
CBT can be integrated with other mindfulness-based therapies to cultivate awareness, acceptance, and non-judgmental attitudes. By incorporating mindfulness techniques into CBT, clients can begin to break down the barriers that keep them from achieving their goals. This is because mindfulness-based therapy teaches you to be more present in the moment which can improve your acceptance, productivity, and overall well-being.
What To Expect During CBT
During cognitive-behavioral therapy for mental health, people can become more aware of their unhealthy thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They begin to recognize negative thinking patterns based on false beliefs. These false beliefs, also known as cognitive distortions, can contribute to emotional distress or mental health challenges. Through CBT, it is possible to challenge distorted thinking patterns and learn to develop a more realistic perspective on yourself and your life.
Examples of common cognitive distortions include:
- All-or-nothing thinking – viewing events as either good or bad with no space in between
- Overgeneralization – applying the outcome of one situation to all current and future situations
- Mental filter – only focusing on the negatives and filtering out all of the positives
- Magnification or minimization – exaggerating the negative or positive aspects of an experience
- Personalization – equating the actions of others with personal self-worth
After learning about the different types of cognitive distortions, clients then learn research-based strategies to identify and challenge unhealthy automatic thoughts. Clients also learn practical coping skills to manage overwhelming emotions and distressing situations.
To help people heal from mental health disorders, CBT often incorporates the following:
- Problem-solving skills
- Effective communication strategies
- Stress management tools
- Relaxation techniques
- Mindfulness skills
By using these strategies, clients can identify and address the root cause of their distress. This will help them create a healthier relationship with their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. For this reason, CBT can lead to more effective solutions that address the underlying issues instead of merely treating the symptoms with medication alone.
What Is The Goal Of CBT?
In general, the goal of CBT is to help individuals identify and change dysfunctional thought patterns and behaviors.
While participating in CBT sessions in a mental health program, clients come to understand the impact of their thoughts and feelings on their behavior. During therapy, they learn to recognize negative thoughts that fuel negative self-talk and low self-esteem. CBT therapists can also help clients see how false beliefs can sabotage progress in school, work, relationships, and life.
CBT-certified therapists also strive to provide an environment that allows individuals to reconnect with their core values. This can help clients build upon the foundations of who they are, so they can gain a greater sense of self-awareness and develop insight into how their thoughts, feelings, and actions might be negatively impacting their lives. With this enhanced ability to manage difficult emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, individuals can work toward healing.
Integrated Mental Health Services
Elevare Behavioral Health provides experienced clinicians who offer CBT therapy sessions to those in need of mental health treatment. Our team of clinical staff is dedicated to helping you reach your goals by providing quality care and creating an environment where they feel safe and supported. In offering CBT, our goal is to help you overcome the negative thought patterns holding you back.
Our professional team is here to give you all of the information you need to help you make an informed decision for your best health. Give us a call, anytime.
