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Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
While it might seem to be the case, evidence-based psychotherapy is not new. The term "evidence-based" can be defined two ways:
* an approach to therapy emphasizes the pursuit of evidence on which to base its theory and techniques, as well as encourages its patients or clients to consider evidence before taking action; or
* an approach to therapy is supported by research findings, and those findings provide evidence that it is effective.
In relation to the first definition, practitioners of virtually every approach to counselling or psychotherapy think that their approach is evidence-based (at least to some degree). Each approach to psychotherapy is based on the assumption that it is correct in terms of its explanation of human behaviour. Therefore, practitioners of each approach believe that they have "evidence" that their approach is correct, or they would not waste their time practicing that approach.
However, cognitive-behavioural therapists seek to acquire evidence to determine the accuracy of their theories and effectiveness of their techniques. For example, cognitive-behavioural therapists believe that their explanation of human behaviour (that "learned" behaviours and emotions are caused by one's thoughts) is correct. Rather than assuming that their theory is correct, they base this assumption on psychosomatic research that in fact proves that the assumption is indeed correct.
Cognitive-behavioural therapists take into the therapy session this interest in gathering evidence and assessing it. CBT'ers ask questions to obtain a clear, accurate picture of the client's experience. CBT therapists also look for evidence in relation to their clients' thoughts, and encourage clients to base thinking on the FACTS (the evidence).
*Cognitive-behavioural therapy is the most researched psychotherapeutic approach because each cognitive-behavioural approach has specific techniques that can be tested for effectiveness;
*CBT encourages the development of specific goals that are measurable, and, therefore, can be researched;
*Cognitive-behavioural therapists (to varying degrees) are interested in the research and research process;
*Cognitive-behavioural therapists are not interested in techniques that "feel right" or "seem correct", but techniques that are effective.
Most psychotherapy outcome research is focused on short-term reduction of symptoms, and this is the reason why many "studies" find that cognitive-behavioural therapy is as effective as antidepressants in the treatment of depression. This has been a pretty consistent finding.
However, cognitive-behavioural therapy is focused on "getting better" rather than "feeling better". So while we are encouraged that clients improve their symptoms with cognitive-behavioural therapy, we are more interested in helping them with the underlying thoughts and core beliefs that caused their emotional distress, helping them rid themselves of problematic, inaccurate thoughts, and replacing them with thoughts that are healthy and accurate.
What Is Cognitive Therapy?
Cognitive therapy makes the assumption that thoughts precede moods and that false self-beliefs lead to negative emotions. Cognitive therapy aims to help the patient recognize and reassess his patterns of negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts that more closely reflect reality.
What Are Cognitive Distortions?
Cognitive therapy recognizes 10 common patterns of faulty thinking, which are known as cognitive distortions.
All-or-Nothing Thinking: Failing to recognize that there may be some middle ground. Characterized by absolute terms like always, never, and forever.
Overgeneralization: Taking an isolated case and assuming that all others are the same.
Mental Filter: Mentally singling out the bad events in one's life and overlooking the positive.
Disqualifying the Positive: Treating positive events like they don't really count.
Jumping to Conclusions: Assuming the worst about a situation even though there is no evidence to back their conclusion.
Magnification and Minimization: Downplaying positive events while paying an inordinate amount of attention to negative ones.
Emotional Reasoning: Allowing your emotions to govern what you think about a situation rather than objectively looking at the facts.
Should Statements: Rigidly focusing on how you think things should be rather than finding strategies for dealing with how things are.
Labeling and Mislabeling: Applying false and harsh labels to oneself and others.
Personalization: Blaming yourself for things that are out of your control.
What Is Cognitive Therapy Used For?
Studies have shown that cognitive therapy is an effective treatment for depression. It is comparable in effectiveness to antidepressants and interpersonal therapy or psychodynamic therapy. The combination of cognitive therapy and antidepressants has been shown to be effective in managing severe or chronic depression. Cognitive therapy has also proven beneficial to patients who have only a partial response to antidepressants. There is good evidence that cognitive therapy reduces relapse rates. In addition, some evidence has shown that cognitive therapy is effective in treating adolescent depression.