Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in San Diego

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) at the Mental Health Center of San Diego treats a wide variety of mental conditions that can lower a person’s quality of life. Our program teaches people that, although they cannot control every detail of what transpires around them, they can take control of their thoughts and reactions to those details they can’t control.

One of the primary objectives of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at the Mental Health Center of San Diego is to get patients to recognize negative and/or inaccurate thought processes. Once they recognize negative and/or inaccurate thoughts, they start to view challenging life obstacles as something they can positively respond to outside of the structured environment established by their Cognitive Behavioral Therapist.

 

Psychotherapy

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a popular form of psychotherapy that focuses on changing negative and inaccurate thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. It is a “solutions-based” form of talk therapy that operates on the psychotherapy principle that negative and inaccurate thoughts and emotions strongly influence behavior. For example, feeling acute anxiety might modify your perception of one or more of life’s challenges. A therapist works with you to identify negative and inaccurate thoughts, as well as discover what types of environments trigger the negative and inaccurate thoughts.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is an effective type of talk therapy for patients of all ages that including young children, adolescents, working-age adults, and seniors. CBT is the preferred model for talk therapy among both therapists and insurance companies. The techniques used to conduct cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions can be done online, as well as in person.

CBT is based on three foundational principles. 

  1.  Some mental issues develop in part because of the unhealthy thoughts about how traumatic life events are perceived. 
  2.  Mental issues develop in part because of learned patterns that result in the development of harmful behavior. 
  3.  People suffering from mental issues can learn strategies that help them cope with negative thoughts and emotions.

Goals of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The goals of implementing cognitive behavioral therapy techniques include helping patients gain insight into the motivation of the people they interact with daily. People develop effective problem-solving skills to address difficult-to-resolve problems. An effort to change a patient’s behavioral pattern might include teaching a patient to confront fears, as well as learning how to slow down and relax the mind to encourage positive thoughts and emotions.

Achieving the general goals of CBT helps therapists treat a wide variety of mental health conditions, including:


CBT is an effective therapy to use with patients that suffer from highly serious mental conditions, such as schizophrenia, PTSD, and bipolar disorder. Therapists implement CBT techniques to treat military veterans, law enforcement officers, and the victims of violent crimes that have experienced one or more traumatic life events.

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What to Expect with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Patients can expect their cognitive behavioral therapy sessions to follow a goal-oriented approach to address their unique mental health issues. How their therapist approaches CBT sessions depends on their thoughts and emotions, as well as the specific issues that trouble them. The average number of sessions for CBT runs between five and 20 depending on the seriousness of the negative and inaccurate thoughts and emotions experienced by a patient.

The goal-focused approach to this type of talk therapy follows a series of steps that help people regain their confidence at a pace that best suits your mental health condition.

Here are several of the most common steps:

  •         Identify troubling circumstances that adversely impact your life
  •         Learn how to recognize negative and inaccurate thoughts and emotions
  •         Implement a strategy to eliminate negative and inaccurate thoughts and emotions
  •         Change the way you think about yourself
  •         Pay attention to how you react to mental, physical, and emotional stimuli

The Benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT produces several benefits that are recognized by licensed and certified therapists. People change their thought processes to think healthier thoughts by immediately recognizing negative and inaccurate emotions. Because treatments can take as few as five sessions, cognitive behavioral therapy is considered a highly effective short-term program. CBT treats a wide variety of mental health conditions, ranging from mild to severe symptoms.

Undergoing cognitive behavioral therapy is typically more affordable than other types of talk therapy solutions. The fact that you can complete sessions in person and online ensures you do not have to miss a session. If you do not need to function by taking psychotropic medication, CBT at Mental Health Center of San Diego might be the ideal treatment solution for your mental health needs.

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