Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an a collaborative therapy that helps people gain awareness and understanding into their unhelpful thinking patterns. It also helps people gain a better understanding of the relationship between their thoughts, feelings, and actions. As a result, this supports people in changing destructive and unhealthy behaviors and align their life with their values. 

CBT helps people try new ways of acting and reacting to both external situations and their internal experiences. CBT breaks problems down into smaller pieces to give detailed attention to each part. The techniques aid patients in disrupting negative, automatic thoughts, and replacing them with more helpful ones. 

The overall goal is to teach the skill of breaking down negative thought patterns and changing them into a more helpful approach to handling daily life. It has been shown to be effective for a wide variety of psychological and interpersonal problems and for some problems it is the treatment of choice.

CBT is frequently delivered in an individual format, however conjoint sessions (the client along with a partner, spouse adult family member) is a highly effective treatment approach for PTSD. This approach reflects the ways that PTSD impacts patterns in relationships and uses those relationships to help reduce symptoms.

At Birchwood we use CBT to treat: