The Process of Change with CBT
Orlando CBT Therapy at GroundWork Counseling
At GroundWork Counseling in Orlando, all of our therapists and counselors are trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and use this method of counseling to help clients achieve lasting changes through effective, and evidence-based counseling.
So, What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a short-term, goal-directed method of psychotherapy and counseling that takes a rational, problem-solving approach to counseling. CBT focuses on the present and is aimed at changing one’s thinking in the here and now instead of trying to understand the past. CBT is empowering. The counseling sessions aim to teach practical techniques that are practiced between sessions so that these techniques can be used even when counseling sessions have concluded.
So how does change take place with CBT?
- It encourages you to be able to have and express strong feelings when things don’t go well with your life by expressing emotions healthily and appropriately instead of destructively.
- It teaches you to cope with difficult situations in life without upsetting yourself unnecessarily.
- It teaches you that you can control your emotions and have self-control.
- It helps you to overcome your present emotional and behavioral problems without wasting time and energy trying to understand and explain your past history.
- It teaches you to be independent and insightful.
- It teaches you how to be rational and to be as happy as possible despite the difficult issues you face in life.
There are two primary theoretical models of psychotherapy: Cognitive behavioral and psychodynamic. To treat someone with an anxiety disorder, a psychodynamic therapist would likely help you to identify memories and process a painful childhood. Psychodynamic therapy focuses on a client’s subconscious process by having the client talk freely about his feelings, in order to get to a deeper understanding of current issues. Whereas counseling using CBT tends to be short-term, psychodynamic therapy typically lasts over 40 sessions and often several years. Some counselors and therapists practice using an “eclectic” approach, meaning that they will apply a combination of approaches.
It’s important to note, however, that Judith Beck of the Beck Institute (a highly acclaimed CBT training institute) concurs that some therapists and counselors perform sloppy, ineffective versions of CBT so they can tout that their practice uses “evidence-based” therapies. She states, “A lot of people who self-identify as cognitive therapists don’t carry out therapy in a way I recognize,” she said. “They don’t even do the basics.” This further emphasizes why it is important to find a skilled and trained CBT therapist, so that you can make the most progress possible during your time in counseling. At GroundWork Counseling in Orlando, we strongly believe that CBT can help you to make a deep philosophic change by developing a new outlook on life, and our trained CBT therapists are here to help.
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