Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) aims to help individuals make connections between thoughts, feeling and actions based on the idea that when negative or unhelpful thought patterns are identified and challenged, positive changes in feelings and behaviour can occur. CBT is used to treat a wide range of problems including depression, anxiety, substance abuse and eating disorders.
CBT is problem-focused, goal-directed and helps young people identify the ways their thoughts can influence how they feel and behave. Individuals are helped to make these connections through the process of monitoring reactions to daily events, discussing them in session and testing out beliefs.
For example, a young person may think “I’m a waste of space,” when they do not get invited to a party or do badly in an exam. The CBT process will explore the accuracy and helpfulness of these beliefs, how these thoughts make the young person feel, and how the behaviours that follow this line of thinking emerges and perpetuates a negative cycle.
By identifying how negative thinking patterns affect mood and behaviour and learning to replace them with more helpful and realistic alternatives, young people learn more effective ways of coping with their problems and more effective problem-solving.
