Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
HELPING BREAK THINKING PATTERNS TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based practice that has shown to have significant, positive results for patients in addiction treatment. CBT focuses on how our thoughts and emotions influence our behaviors. Specifically, it looks at how our negative thoughts trigger emotions and create distorted thinking patterns which negatively influence our behaviors.
THE GOAL OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
The goal of CBT is to help clients interrupt their thinking patterns and change their behaviors. With substance use disorders specifically, clients are able to interrupt addictive thought patterns and implement new coping strategies to deal with their stress.
INTERRUPT THINKING PATTERNS
IMPLEMENT NEW COPING STRATEGIES
With a psychodynamic foundation, the client begins to take more creative control of their life and maintains a healthy sense of self to prepare them for the future. We affirm who the person is, identify their needs, and identify healthy sources to meet those needs.
HOW COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY IS IMPLEMENTED
- We begin CBT with an initial assessment to get a sense of the client’s problem areas and create solutions to achieve the client’s goals.
- We then identify the client’s automatic thoughts, core negative beliefs, and cognitive distortions.
- We explore why the client thinks they way they do and begin the process of cognitive restructuring. As we identify new ways of thinking, we apply these new thinking patterns to new behaviors.
THE END RESULT: The client learns how to manage sensations of anger, anxiety, and depression and learns how to interrupt negative thought patterns.
