COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY: CHARACTERISTICS AND TECHNIQUES - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The cognitive behavioral therapy is a treatment that focuses on changing behaviors and thoughts that manage the psychological problem to be involved.

It can be used in children and adults and in disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, improvement of social skills, panic attacks, social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, among others.

It is a therapy that focuses on the present and current functioning of the person, in such a way that it works directly on the cognitive and behavioral state.

In this article you will learn about the characteristics of these therapies, the techniques that are used, what are their benefits, and what kind of problems this type of intervention can treat.

Characteristics of cognitive behavioral therapy

If you've ever been to a psychologist, or know someone who has, you've probably heard of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), but may not yet know exactly what it is.

Well, it is a type of psychological intervention, which has a lot of scientific evidence, and which has become in recent years one of the most used in the field of psychology.

It focuses on the person

Its objective is to nurture the individual with the necessary skills to overcome their psychological difficulties. Thus, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on the subject, their characteristics and abilities, and distances itself from psychodynamic therapies that focus on unconscious thoughts.

Derived from cognitive and behavioral psychology

As its name suggests, it arises as a natural derivative of the findings of cognitive psychology, and behavioral psychology.

Behavioral psychology was prior to CBT. However, the superficiality of which this school was crossed out, since they focused only on behavior, completely omitting cognition and thinking, highlighted the need to incorporate other aspects to apply in psychotherapy.

It is at this time that cognitive psychology emerges, focusing on studying human thoughts and cognition. After the emergence of this psychological school, clinical researchers soon saw the applicability of these principles to psychotherapy.

Thus, through the conjunction of these two psychological schools, cognitive behavioral therapy was born, which adopted cognition and human behavior as intervention points:

• The scientific method and verifiable evidence through behavior are adopted from behavioral therapy, granting an impeccable therapeutic value of behavior modification in psychological problems.
• The value of thought and cognition is recognized as the main source of psychological disturbances and it becomes the basic area of ​​intervention.
• The importance of the relationship between thought and behavior to explain human functioning and mental health is highlighted.

How does it work?

We have said that CBT focuses on human cognition and behavior, now how exactly does this work? According to Ellis's rational therapy, functioning can be divided into three parts: A, B, and C.

• A: It refers to the provident situation or stimulus of the external world with which the individual is involved.
• B: It is about the thought / thoughts that the individual presents about the environmental situation (about A).
• C: Explain the consequences caused by the thought. These consequences include both emotional (and feelings) and behavioral responses.

According to this CBT model, the 3 parts (A, B and C), are in constant feedback. Situation (A) produces thought (B) and thought (B) produces certain behaviors and emotions (C). At the same time, emotions and behaviors (C) feed back the thought (B), making it stronger.

Isn't it clear enough? Well let's see an example!

• A: In the company they make a reduction of staff and give me the letter of dismissal
• B: I think it is a major setback, my life has become complicated, I am worried, etc.
• Client I feel disgust, disappointment and nervousness. I stay home dejected.

In this case, the dismissal (A) has produced my thoughts of concern (B), which have caused emotions and behaviors of disgust and dejection (C). At the same time, being downcast and upset at home (C) increases worrying thoughts (B). By having a greater number of thoughts (B), changing situation C becomes more complicated.

According to the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy, the goal of treatment would be:

On the one hand, the thought: if I carry out interventions capable of replacing current thoughts with more optimistic ones, such as: “I can look for a better job or now I will have more time for my family”, emotions and behaviors will also change: I will be more motivated and optimistic, I will look for work and I will be active.

On the other hand , behavior: if despite being worried and dejected, I manage to change my behavior, be more active, look for work, carry out activities that give me satisfaction, etc. My negative thoughts will decrease, and I will have a greater ability to change my mood and continue doing those behaviors that benefit me.

What Happens During Therapy?

When you start therapy, you will be asked about your background and current condition. The therapist will work with you to identify your problem areas, and the two of you will agree on which ones to work on.

The therapist will try to identify the way you think, behave and how you generate your emotions and feelings.

Subsequently, he will administer a series of psychological techniques so that you are able to identify for yourself your way of thinking and behaving, and will provide you with knowledge and tools to improve those areas in which you have the greatest difficulties.

Your therapist will probably ask you to keep diaries or self-records to examine your functioning outside the office, as well as homework.

What procedure is followed?

Cognitive behavioral therapy consists of 3 major stages.

Psychological evaluation

The main objective of this first stage is to know the patient as a whole. Inquire about the personality of the individual, their abilities and skills, and the psychological problems or difficulties that they may present.

But beware! This first phase is not a simple psychological evaluation where the therapist provides you with some tests so that you can fill them in… The objective of this first evaluation is much more than that. The purpose is to start the professional relationship that will accompany you during the rest of the intervention.

Thus, this phase of the intervention is probably the most important of all, since it is in which the therapeutic alliance between the professional and the patient is forged, information about the latter and the underlying psychological problem is collected, and they are agreed therapeutic goals.

Therapeutic intervention

The second phase of therapy is the longest, and consists of the psychological intervention itself.

It is in this phase, when the therapist and the patient have already established an adequate therapeutic relationship based on trust and commitment, when the psychological techniques aimed at achieving the previously agreed goals and changes begin to be applied.

Tracing

This stage begins when the subject has reached a state of significant improvement, and no longer requires therapy to make the changes that had been made to date in the consultation. The frequency of the sessions is being spaced, and the objective is to maintain the improvements and avoid relapses.

Cognitive behavioral therapy techniques

Cognitive behavioral therapy contains a large number of techniques, which are used depending on the problem to be solved. Let's see the most used:

Operant techniques

They are techniques that aim to modify behavior. They consist of providing stimuli in an orderly way to the patient, with the aim that these stimuli facilitate the modification of the problem behavior.

• Operative techniques for the increase and maintenance of behaviors.
• Operative techniques for the acquisition of new behaviors.
• Operative techniques for the reduction or elimination of behaviors.

Exposure techniques

They consist of approaching (exposing) the subject in a systematic and adapted way to those stimuli that they fear and that generate anxiety, so that in this way they can face and overcome their fears.

• Live exhibition.
• Exposure in imagination.
• Symbolic exhibition.

Systematic relaxation and desensitization

They are procedures that help the individual to reduce their physical and / or mental tension, reduce stress and anxiety, and find a state of calm.

• Progressive relaxation.
• Autogenous relaxation.
• Breathing techniques.

Here you can see more relaxation techniques.

Coping and social skills techniques

Social skills are learned behaviors that can be modified and improved through learning techniques such as the following:

• Self-instruction training.
• Stress inoculation.
• Problem resolution.

Cognitive techniques

These techniques are intended to modify the thinking and interpretations that are made of events that can cause discomfort and / or harmful behaviors.

• Cognitive restructuring.
• Thought stopping.
• Distraction

Advantage

It has a scientific basis

Perhaps there are people who do not give much importance to scientific evidence when they go to a psychologist, since it is thought that the benefits of psychotherapy are in the therapist than in the therapy itself.

But what would you think if to treat cancer they proposed a type of intervention with no scientific evidence?

Well, the same thing happens in psychology. No matter how good a therapist he is, if he does not use methods that have proven their effectiveness, he probably cannot offer you the best intervention for your problem.

Thus, with CBT you will have this point in favor, since in all the studies carried out, its therapeutic potential for a wide variety of problems has been demonstrated.

It is effective for serious problems

As we have said, cognitive behavioral therapy has extensive scientific evidence, and it also has it for serious mental disorders, not just for simple psychological problems.

Thus, disorders such as major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, social phobia or substance abuse, among many others, can be treated effectively with cognitive behavioral therapy.

Examine the origins of problems

Unlike psychoanalysis or other psychological interventions, CBT does not base its sessions on talking about the past, childhood or possible trauma with parents.

However, this therapy emphasizes the model of the formation of mental schemas during childhood and adolescence. It is intended to deduce how your current mental schemes, your beliefs and your thoughts have been created, and what techniques will be most effective today for you to modify them.

Thus, although CBT focuses on the present and not on the past, it does not neglect the origins of problems, and tries to examine them that are useful to draw conclusions about current treatment.

References

1. The Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Model By DR. Roberto Mainieri Caropresso.
2. Introduction to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Dra. Cristina Ruiz Coloma. Teknon Medical Center. Barcelona
3. MA, and Angela Fang, MA Boston University, Boston, MA.