Sunday, March 27, 2016

Important Facts On Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

By Thomas Graham


Psychotherapy forms an important component of management for many physical and mental illness. In most cases it is offered alongside other forms of treatments (such as pharmacotherapy). Cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT, is available in New Jersey and involves attending talk sessions with a trained therapist with the aim of identifying possible causes of an illness and working on their solutions. The conditions for which it has been found to be most effective include eating disorders, depression and anxiety disorders among others.

Typically, clients are required to attend therapy sessions one every week or every fortnight. Each session usually lasts between 30 minutes and one hour. Depending on the nature of the illness, a total of 5 to 20 sessions are needed. Your therapist will help you classify your problems into three broad categories namely: thoughts, feelings and actions. The analysis of these three areas will help identify the causes of the problem and how best it can be rectified by changing inappropriate thoughts and behaviors.

To get the most out of this therapy, one should approach it as a partnership.it has been shown that persons that participate in the sessions actively are more likely to benefit than those who keep to themselves and leave the therapist to do all the talking. All attempts should be made to ensure that both the therapist and the client agree on the major issues relating to the illness and should come up with a treatment plan together.

One must remember that CBT takes time to works and the results are not immediate. There is a need to work hard and to stick to the treatment plan if even no motivation to do so exists. It is not uncommon for some clients to have their symptoms worsen particularly during the beginning of therapy but the situation tend to improve with time.

This treatment may be offered to individual patients or to groups. It is, as a matter of fact an important part of family and couples therapy. When used for groups, the only requirement is that the clients should share similar problems. The advantage of offering CBT to groups is that the group members learn coping skills from each other and are likely to respond faster than individual clients.

The client should be honest and as open as possible if they are to benefit from this treatment. They need to freely share their thoughts, experiences and emotions with their therapist to make it possible for solutions to be formulated. In case one feels that sharing some information is embarrassing or is likely to result into emotional pain they should let the therapist know. The therapist is obliged to maintain client confidentiality (except in very rare circumstances).

Symptoms may recur after some time in some patients even after successful treatment. When this happens, the right thing to do is to practice the skills that were gained in previous CBT sessions. If very severe, a repeat of the treatment may be necessary. Other forms of treatment may be helpful in increasing the effectiveness of CBT. This includes drugs such as depressants (in the case of depression) and other types of talk therapy.

Referrals to CBT specialists may come from primary physicians, friends or relatives. In some cases it is a personal decision. Regardless of the case, one must make sure that they identified the right therapist for their case. Ensure that you can afford to pay for the treatment to avoid dropping out along the way.




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