What is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)?
• A type of talk therapy that is more goal-oriented and interactive than traditional talk therapies.

• CBT looks at the interaction between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, to better understand some of the patterns people find themselves “stuck” in.

• CBT is used to develop new strategies to overcome or cope with problem symptoms.

• CBT is usually time-limited and focuses on teaching skills and new strategies that a person can incorporate into an improved, and healthier lifestyle.

• CBT works best when clients are willing to actively participate in session and practice new skills in-between sessions.

• Many research studies have shown that CBT, when carried out by trained professionals, is effective in treating many disorders. CBT is the most studied psychotherapy in the world and has been studied in hundreds of research protocols.

Does CBT change the brain?

In general there has been few investigations of changes in brain activity following psychological interventions. CBT demonstrates comparable efficacy to pharmacotherapy in treating a number of mental health conditions. Limited evidence suggests CBT affects clinical recovery by modulating the functioning of specific sites in limbic (hippocampus) and cortical regions (frontal lobe) of the brain(see figure 1).

Figure 1: CBT changes metabolism of brain in the frontal lobe and hippocampus.

To learn more about cognitive behavioral therapy, go to:
www.academyofct.org
www.abct.org
www.beckinstitute.org