Numerous empirical studies have proven cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) to be very useful for treating a wide range of concerns, such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and even addictions.  For example, CBT is just as effective in treating depression as is anti-depressant medication, and the effect is more long-lasting.  Some clients choose to use both CBT and medication.

Q.  What is cognitive-behavioural therapy?

 A.  CBT is a structured therapeutic method used to alter distorted attitudes and problem behaviour by identifying and replacing negative thoughts, and by changing behaviours.

 Q.  What are the distorted thought patterns that cause problems?

A.  People who are anxious or depressed typically have at least several of the following thinking patterns:

• All-or-nothing thinking:  Seeing things as only black or white.  If your performance is short of perfect, you see yourself as a failure.
• Over-generalization: You see a single negative event as a pattern of defeat.
• Mental filter: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively.
• Disqualifying the positive: You reject positive experiences as if they don't count.
• Jumping to conclusions: You make a negative interpretation although there are no definite facts that support your conclusion.  a) Mind-reading - You assume that someone has negative ideas about you.  b) Fortune-telling: You anticipate that things will turn out badly.
• Magnification or Minimization: You exaggerate the importance of something you think is negative or disregard something positive.
• Emotional reasoning: You assume that your negative emotions reflect things as they really are, i.e. "I feel it, so it must be true." 

• Should statements: You try to motivate yourself with shoulds and should nots.
• Labelling: Instead of describing your error, you attach a negative label to yourself.
• Personalization: You see yourself as the cause of some negative external event which in fact you were not primarily responsible for.

Q.  Does CBT always work?

A.  It always provides insight in regard to the causes of negative feelings, depression, and anxiety.  Clients benefit greatly if they use this insight to change their attitudes, negative thinking patterns, and behaviours.  However, the client has to read the material (some homework between sessions is typical in CBT), do some assignments and make gradual behavioural changes.  The psychotherapist cannot do the client's work, so the results depend on both the therapy and the client.

Q.  How long does the therapy take?

A.  To complete a course of CBT typically takes 12 to 20 one-hour sessions.  Each session is valuable and even fewer sessions will provide useful insights and changes, if the client is motivated.  I find that most clients finish the CBT in about 12 sessions and many choose to come back every several weeks after that, just to gain more motivation and clarity.