Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is a very hands-on approach to psychotherapy. This clinical psychotherapy addresses addiction treatment by helping addicts restructure their behaviors and attitudes toward substances. Thus, this blog focuses on answering what is CBT and ways to find a mental health therapist. 

What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? 

Addiction is self-destructive by nature. It results in consequences that most people would not choose to suffer. Addiction is often amplified in users by co-occurring disorders such as anxiety and depression, which can result in similarly destructive behaviors. Moreover, addicts and alcoholics often think in extremes.

Cognitive behavioral therapy techniques for addiction are a beneficial therapeutic intervention that helps recover successfully. It helps prevent relapse and enhances self-control to cope with cravings. It helps to realize and identify one’s problematic behaviors and rectify them.

Furthermore, the coping skills learned in therapy can be applied to the recovery and maintenance of thought processes arising from various co-occurring disorders. This approach is a large part of the reason it has become one of the favored forms of therapy among dual diagnosis treatments, which are led by addiction experts across the country [1]. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program- Working Process 

In CBT for addiction, a person learns how to challenge and identify behaviors that have contributed to the problems the person is targeting.

The therapist’s role is to help you get a perception of negative thoughts that lead to poor self-image, such as negative self-talk. This negative self-talk can cause self-destructive beliefs and behaviors, and in this stage of behavioral therapy, your goal is to identify and change them.

Once a person is aware of the thought patterns that lead to the misuse of substances, then he will learn and apply coping strategies to replace these parts of the patterns. This is done by developing new skills to replace past behaviors, which is a treatment called relapse prevention.

In a therapy session, a behavioral therapist might teach to replace negative self-talk with a different positive thought.

A core principle of CBT is it focuses on restructuring and uncovering negative beliefs that have been learned over time. In substance abuse treatment, this may look like exploring the consequences of continued drinking or using, learning to recognize urges or cravings, and developing strategies to avoid high-risk situations that might result from relapsing [2].

Goal Of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The key principle goals or core values of CBT includes-

• It involves efforts to change the thinking pattern. 

• They help in changing behavioral patterns. 

• To promote self-awareness and emotional intelligence by helping people able to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy feelings. 

• To help people understand how distorted thoughts and perceptions may cause painful feelings. 

• Helps in preventing future episodes of emotional distress. 

• The ability to develop self-control. 

• Enabling patients to get back to their daily routine. 

Benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 

The primary benefit of cognitive behavioral therapy for drug addiction is that it brings harmful ways of feeling and thinking to light while providing the necessary tools to overcome these thought processes. 

Furthermore, this mental health treatment method allows the patient to build a rapport with their mental health therapist, ensuring a healthy professional relationship based on honesty and trust. This sense of reliance is particularly evident in group sessions, as patients must rely on each other in addition to the presiding therapist. 

Using outside and homework assignments provide variety, ensuring that sessions do not feel stale, and also promotes accountability on the client's part. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques

The cognitive behavioral therapist assists people in how to make changes and implement them at the current time. Based on the condition you are dealing with and your goals, there are several CBT techniques. Some of these are listed below. Mental health treatment may involve different types of therapies and interventions, such as CBT or medication. You can read more about the different types of mental health treatment options.

Cognitive Restructuring Or Reframing

It is a process that involves self-assessment to identify the negative thought pattern of an individual. These are more relevant for people who-

• Over-generalize or overthink.

• Assume the worst is going to happen.

• Giving way too much importance to minor things. 

Your cognitive behavioral therapist will also question you about your thought process to help you identify your negative pattern. Once you are aware of them, you will be able to reframe those thoughts in a better and more positive way. 

Guided Discovery

In this process, the mental health therapist will acquaint themselves with your thought process and viewpoint. They do so by asking you questions that also broaden your thinking. 

Exposure therapy

The use of Exposure therapy helps in confronting phobias and fears. The mental health therapist will gradually expose you to situations and things that provoke the fear while providing guidance to manage and cope with them. 

Relaxation techniques

Some effective relaxation techniques that may be beneficial in CBT are muscle relaxation, deep breathing exercises, and imagery. 

Role-playing

It can help you in the following ways-

• By improving problem-solving skills.

• By helping them practice social skills. 

• By improving communication skills. 

• By gaining confidence and familiarity. 

• Through assertiveness training. 

A few other Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques includes Journaling,  Successive approximation, and though Behavioral experiments. 

Cons Of CBT For Addiction

Although cognitive behavioral therapy for addiction is very effective, it has some negative impacts as well. 

We have mentioned some of the setbacks below [3]:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy for drug addiction solely depends on the person’s will. Hence, if the person is not genuinely willing to devote themselves, this therapy will be worthless. 

• This therapy can be time-consuming, and balancing the therapy sessions and extra work can be arduous.

• It might not benefit people with learning difficulties and more complex mental health conditions.

• CBT addresses only the present scenario without evaluating the underlying causes.

• It is also possible in some instances for a person to feel worse during the initial period of the therapy.

Therefore some people might get the urge not to undergo this therapy. An alternate choice at this point can be the administration of Nootropics. FDA has approved Nootropics such as Modafinil for medical usage. It provides an effective desired result as anticipated from a CBT. 

The safe place to buy Modafinil online is HealthMatter- A trusted and reliable online pharmacy. HealthMatter provides genuine Modafinil at the best price without requiring any prescription.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - The Verdict

CBT is intended to help you learn how to identify the thought patterns and beliefs associated with substance abuse or addiction. By learning to spot or recognize these negative thoughts, you can be able to take a few steps to overcome them and change your behavior.

CBT also teaches coping strategies to help a person deal with daily problems. It may be used alone or together with medicine to treat substance abuse.