Services > Cognitive behavioral therapy
CBT overview
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an empirically validated treatment that aims to improve mental health by addressing unhelpful thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors. CBT helps you become aware of inaccurate or negative thinking so you can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way. We also provide additional focused therapy if you struggle with insomnia specifically (CBT-I).
What Is CBT therapy?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that is used to treat clients that need help with their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Instead of the primary focus of treatment being on the past, CBT is a present-focused and problem-solving treatment that helps clients find solutions for today’s problems. This empirically validated treatment helps clients see how their thoughts are impacting their feelings and behaviors. While our thoughts may be based on our experiences and past, such as our childhood, instead of focusing on just those events, CBT works in helping you find a solution now. CBT is a directive type of psychotherapy that uses various structured techniques and outside homework to reduce your symptoms.
Examples of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques
PositivePsychology.com provides a breakdown of some core techniques for effective CBT. You may use one or several of these techniques together when working with your therapist:
Techniques for CBT, from PositivePsychology.com
Who does CBT work for?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy can address many mental health conditions. Some of these include anxiety, depression, substance abuse, personality disorders, and eating disorders. Studies have found that the use of CBT in therapy can help patients reduce and eliminate some health conditions that are not always possible from other forms of therapy.
Dealing with insomnia?
We provide a separate form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focused on helping those suffering from difficulty sleeping.
What to expect
During your first two sessions you and your CBT therapist will work together to identify what issues you want to address in treatment. Through a series of questions your therapist will help you identify your negative or harmful thoughts as well as core beliefs that are interfering with your ability to live a productive and satisfying life.
Once you've been able to identify your maladaptive thinking, you will start to see how those thoughts are impacting your emotions and ultimately your behavior. This allows you to learn how “reframe” or “restructure” your thoughts into ones that will be more helpful for your situation and in your life. This is often accomplished by identifying “cognitive distortions” and using the CBT techniques mentioned previously. Examples of cognitive distortions include filtering, personalization, or blaming.
Types of cognitive distortions, from PositivePsychology.com
CBT also includes “homework assignments” such as completing thought logs and journaling to generalize the skills you are learning in sessions to real life situations. With the help of an empathetic and directive therapist you will start to make positive changes to the way you think about the world which will lead to more positive behaviors and symptom reduction.
Coverage and payment
Commercial BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) plans for services that insurance companies deem medically necessary are accepted. If we are not a provider on your plan, and you have a plan with out-of-network benefits (typically a PPO), we are able to provide you with a receipt of payment which you can then submit to your insurance company. If you have questions about this, and our role in the process, please let me know. Finally, some people choose to not use their insurance and pay privately.