Three Things I Like About Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

By Daniel Smith – Providing Counseling Services in Chicago & Northwest Suburbs

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a highly effective form of therapy. The fact that CBT is concrete and easy to understand allows individuals to integrate the concepts into the way they think about things in their life. For this reason, I choose to use CBT on a regular basis to help my clients improve their lives. Below are three different aspects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that I like best.

The first reason I like to utilize Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is because it is goal oriented. At the beginning of CBT sessions, it is important for the therapist to elicit specific goal oriented tasks that the client wants to work on and together the client and therapist can prioritize these tasks. I believe it is important to facilitate goal-oriented therapy in order for clients to see the progress that they make during the course of therapy. Finally, I like goal oriented therapy because this allows the client to learn how to find solutions in their own lives. I believe that if the client sees that they are finding solutions in the office, they will continue to be able to find solutions on their own and with their loved ones in their own environment.

Furthermore, I utilize CBT because sessions are structured and focused. I believe it is important to focus on what is occurring in the individual’s everyday life, and then concentrate on the specific goals that the client wants to address throughout their therapy. This way we can assess and reassess the individual’s therapy as the process continues. I believe that it is important for the therapeutic process that the therapist starts where the client is at in each session to ensure that the sessions are being used effectively for the client.

Finally, CBT is beneficial because psycho-education is a significant component of the therapy. Psycho-education is the process of teaching individuals about their own mental health difficulties and how to lead a healthier life style. I believe that raising one’s awareness and providing them with information that is relevant to their life problems gives people the ability to lead a more positive lifestyle. Becoming aware of this information is empowering and is vital to the therapeutic process. For example CBT teaches clients about their own emotional triggers which helps to raise self-awareness. Learning about our own individual emotional triggers gives us the ability to hold ourselves accountable when we feel as if we are becoming more depressed, anxious or sad. As a result, we can utilize simple CBT coping skills to better manage intense emotions that tend to be overwhelming

Robert can be contacted at email: [email protected] or Ph. (847) 824-8366 to make an appointment. He is located in the Golf Mill Professional Building in Niles, Illinois and provides counseling services to clients in Chicago, Niles, Glenview, Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Northbrook, Skokie, Arlington Heights, Lincolnwood and the remaining Northwest suburbs of Chicago.

Email:  [email protected] or Ph. (847) 824-8366.