Do you ever feel stuck in a spiral of negative thoughts and emotions? Do you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again even when it’s not working? These kinds of negative cycles are at the root of many human problems, from anxiety and depression to relationship issues and substance use disorders. Finding a way to break these patterns is often an important part of improving mental health. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help!
What is CBT?
Cognitive behavioral therapy is based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors all affect each other. CBT founder Aaron Beck believed that the way we feel about events in our lives has more to do with how we interpret these events than with the events themselves. Often our interpretations are based on “cognitive distortions,” or errors in thinking.
Cognitive Distortions
We all make these errors sometimes. Some examples of cognitive distortions include all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralization, and discounting the positive. Someone might be using all-or-nothing thinking if they make one mistake and think, “I can’t do anything right.” Even though this thought is false, it might lead them to believe they are a bad person (overgeneralization). They will focus even more on future mistakes and they will ignore future successes (discounting the positive.) The more this cycle happens, the more “true” these thoughts feel.
Breaking out of the cycle
In CBT, the therapist and client work together to figure out which cognitive distortions the client is making. They gather information from the client’s life to prove that the cognitive distortion isn’t true. They analyze which thoughts cause which feelings, and which feelings cause which behaviors. The therapist helps the client substitute a new thought or feeling or behavior that interrupts the cycle.
Learning new patterns
CBT is all about helping the client learn the skills they need to identify and solve their own problems. Practicing a new behavior can change the way you feel about yourself. Learning new coping skills can help you meet stressful situations without falling into a negative thought spiral. And when you do fall into a negative spiral, coping skills can help you calm your mind and release your emotions before they cause you to do something you’ll regret. All our negative patterns are things we learned at some point in our lives. The good news is, we can always learn new patterns. Therapists are here to help!