What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? 7 Effective CBT Exercises

A Quick Guide

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a research-based treatment that focuses on current problems and helps manage psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety. It involves understanding and modifying thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. CBT utilizes exercises like cognitive restructuring, active scheduling, graded exposure, problem-solving, mindfulness meditation, and relaxation techniques. It can be effective for various conditions, including addiction, anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, phobias, PTSD, and sleep disorders. CBT requires time and commitment for lasting results, and some discomfort may be experienced during certain therapies.

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? 

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a scientific research-based treatment that can help you in managing a number of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc. Unlike traditional talk therapy, CBT focuses more on the current problems you may be facing and is considered a relatively short-term treatment spanning over a few weeks to a few months. 

How does CBT work? 

CBT takes a holistic approach to mental health, you learn to understand the underlying thought process of the way you react to certain stressful situations. It mainly focuses on three main components which are thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. By breaking down negative feelings into each of these components, you can figure out the steps you should take when a problem arises. 

With CBT, you can learn to understand what triggers you as well as what is the reason behind that trigger. After you understand why something is triggering you, you analyze your response because oftentimes, your behavior is a response to a certain emotion you are feeling. So understanding the root cause of your problem goes a long way in helping you overcome a feeling. 

For instance, your problematic behavior is binge eating, and it is triggered by stress. So if you learn to manage your stress that can make a big change. Another thing you can do with CBT is to change your unhealthy coping mechanisms. So instead of binge eating when you are stressed, you can learn to distract yourself with other activities.

Some effective Cognitive Behavioral Therapy exercises

CBT usually requires meeting with a trained mental health professional. Here are some exercises that you will come across in CBT.

Cognitive Restructuring

Cognitive restructuring basically refers to understanding your problematic thoughts and then replacing your unhealthy coping mechanism with healthy coping mechanisms This exercise requires you to keep a thought journal where you record all of your thoughts, including situations, how they made you feel, and the way you reacted. Over time, you learn to react in ways that are less dysfunctional. 

Active Scheduling

Active scheduling requires you to take part in actions and activities that you wouldn’t otherwise perform because of depression or anxiety. Start out slowly and progressively repeat your new behavior or activity.

This will assist in bringing you out of your shell and introducing new tasks that may improve your overall well-being. Reintroducing rewarding habits into daily routines is a technique also used in the treatment of depression.

Consider taking up a new hobby, trying work out, volunteering, or engaging in any other activity that includes undertaking new tasks and responsibilities. 

Graded Exposure

You may use exposure therapy to face anxieties and phobias. Your therapist will gradually introduce you to the situations that make you feel anxious or fearful while offering advice on how to deal with them right then and there.

The basic idea is that avoiding the things we dread causes our worry and fear to grow. An important and long-lasting reduction in anxiety happens when you methodically approach something you might otherwise avoid.

You can take small steps to complete this. Exposure can eventually help you feel less vulnerable and much more assured in your ability to cope. This is also a form of systematic desensitization.

Problem-solving

This approach helps engage people in problem-solving activities. People who frequently experience disappointment or chronic mood disorders may become passive in the face of challenging circumstances. People who are taught good problem-solving techniques can retake control and make the most of challenging circumstances.

Successive Approximation 

People who are faced with challenging or overwhelming goals can use successive approximation. It helps in achieving your goals by methodically dividing the task into smaller steps. Instead of viewing the problem as one huge, looming task, you will be able to make much more progress if you experience small victories along the way. As soon as you start, a snowball effect happens, and you’ll be shocked by how far you’ve come.

Mindfulness meditation

This approach teaches people to connect to the present moment and disconnect from negative thinking or obsessing. You are able to silently and without judgment consider your thoughts, feelings, and perceptions as they are right now.

But you should not make a conscious effort to stop thinking. Your mind will inevitably have thoughts, so just let them go and focus on the here and now. Do some breathing exercises if you’re new to meditation and unsure of where to begin. 

Relaxation breathing exercises

Relaxation breathing techniques are designed to assist people in reducing the physical signs of anxiety, such as shortness of breath, a rapid heartbeat, dizziness, etc. People may think more clearly when their body’s nervous arousal is lower, which increases feelings of comfort and further lessens anxiety symptoms.

You might learn progressive relaxation techniques in CBT, like:

• Deep breathing
• Guided imagery
• Progressive muscle relaxation

You’ll acquire useful abilities that might help you feel more in control and reduce stress. This can be useful in managing stressors such as phobias and social anxieties.

What can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy help with?

CBT is effective for a wide range of common issues, including anxiety management and learning how to handle stressful circumstances.  CBT can be helpful even without a medical diagnosis. It may also be useful for:

• Controlling symptoms or avoiding relapses in mental illness.
• Coping with loss.
• Enhancing communication abilities.
• Learning assertiveness.
• Learning how to control strong emotions like fear, sadness, or rage.
• Managing issues with one’s physical health.
• Resolving conflicts.

Psychological disorders CBT can help

Whether used alone or in conjunction with other therapies or drugs, CBT is useful for a wide range of problems such as: 

• Addictions
• Anger issues
• Anxiety Disorders
• Bipolar Disorders
• Chronic Pain
• Depression
• Eating Disorders
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder OCD
• Phobias
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD
• Schizophrenia
• Sexual Disorders
• Sleep Disorders

What is the outlook for people using CBT?

There are a few considerations to bear in mind like the following:

• CBT takes time to take effect. It requires dedication and desire to practice new methods outside of therapy sessions as well. Consider CBT as a change in lifestyle that you want to maintain and perfect over the course of your life.
• Some people can initially find it unpleasant or uncomfortable to face their problems, but that completely varies from person to person.
• While you’re going through some forms of CBT, such as exposure treatment, your tension and anxiety may get worse.

We hope you found this article useful in learning more about what cognitive behavioral therapy is, how it works, who can most benefit from it along with some effective exercises in CBT.