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The CBT has been proven to be more effective than other treatments for anxiety, depression, and many other mental health conditions.
Many people are hesitant about trying this type of therapy because it may seem like an overwhelming task to change how they think about and react to situations. However, the benefits of this type of treatment far outweigh any potential downsides. For example, CBT has been shown to be more effective than medication for certain types of mental health conditions.In addition, Lasta offers a cbt weight loss app. Here you will be able to try the practices СВТ and also get in the desired physical shape.
How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Works to Make Yourself Happier?
First, СBT is a well-proven set of practical techniques. This approach is universal; almost anyone can notice its immediate effect in the fight against bad habits. Researchers have found great effectiveness in this practice in improving mental health and even improving quality of life.
CBT is based on helping people manage their moods and change unwanted behavior through self-awareness and critical analysis. You learn to be aware of your reactions. Therefore, you change your way of thinking before distorted patterns of thinking injure you.
Why You Should Consider Trying Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
- The way to know your inner world
You will learn to distinguish your emotions and, importantly, to understand what causes them. This will help you better understand your personality.
- High level of empathy for other people
Understanding yourself, you can transfer this knowledge to reading and understanding the emotional reactions of others. Thus, you will gain high communication skills.
- Mindful healing without medication
Medication is a standard solution to depression, anxiety, anger, insomnia, etc. CBT teaches you a distinct set of skills that remain after therapy. They help to reduce dependence on medication. It works because you “rewire” the brain.
- Self-control
If you are prone to impulsive actions and you are easily influenced by emotions, then CBT is a good way out. CBT can help you learn to be mindful of self-control. You will take into account all factors and provide a more thoughtful, rational response to any events and situations.
- The end of bad habits
Eating disorders, alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, smoking, etc., are prime examples of emotional disorders that trigger difficult-to-break addictions. CBT helps first to understand the root of the addiction. And then the healing process begins.
- Trigger control
CBT can help you recognize emotional triggers, even if they are beyond your control. This way, you begin to overcome them gradually.
- Victory over defeats
Often failures become a trigger, stopping the path to success. This therapy allows you to find and work through such triggers through analysis.
- Feeling of grounding
You think a lot, tend to wind yourself up, overthink, but often do not dare to act. CBT helps you to curb this tendency and to let go of resentments and negative feelings. You stop the downward emotional spiral and then begin to move towards happiness.
How CBT Works in the Brain?
It is known that human thoughts and behavior depend on habits. This explains why you start the day with coffee or go to the same places. Your brain forms a particular algorithm of actions and reactions to different circumstances. These are neural pathways. They send and transmit electrical signals that control literally everything you do and how you think. The more you think about something or perform a specific action, the more stable this pathway becomes because your brain is more likely to default to a given route.
We form neural pathways without any conscious effort. The amygdala, which is responsible for processing emotions, plays a primary role. That’s why whenever you have a depressive, anxious or addictive thought, etc., your brain is wired to continue reacting in the suggested way. Yes, changing the mindset is not easy, but it is possible.
Cognitive behavioral therapy seeks to restructure the brain by creating new neural pathways through neutral thinking. As an example, a depressed brain typically reinforces adverse thought pathways over a period of time. In many cases, these habitual pathways affect the brain’s willingness to process negative information more quickly than positive information. This leads to cognitive distortions or deformed thinking patterns.
It has been proven time and time again that our brains are incredibly flexible and tuned to adapt to different stimuli. CBT offers a unique way to help change your brain. In fact, it is the three-pronged approach (mindfulness, situational exercises, and journaling) that can help people change their thinking and influence behavior the fastest.
CBT works in such a way that it trains the brain through various reactionary processes, including thoughts and even actions, so it reprograms the brain and changes neural pathways.
5 Best CBT Techniques for Making You Happier
- A person can learn to lower their heart rate through breathing control procedures. They help to ground and trigger rational brain functioning.
- Muscle relaxation works by focusing on specific areas of the body. You relax a particular muscle or group of muscles. This impulse begins to be transmitted to other parts of the body. And finally, it leads to a “restart” of the brain.
- Exposure therapy involves exposing a person to a trigger that causes stress. With prolonged exposure, the anxiety associated with the trigger begins to decrease. Exposure therapy may include visualization.
- Cognitive restructuring examines the difference between rational and irrational thoughts (cognitive distortions). Once a person is able to identify these distortions, they can control and overcome the process of anxiety or panic.
- Grounding as a relaxation and concentration technique helps a person to focus on the five basic senses. Thus, you come to your senses in an emergency.
Conclusion
Cognitive behavioral therapy has proven effective in treating various mental disorders, including depression, bipolar disorder, chronic anxiety, schizophrenia, anger disorders, and substance abuse.
In most cases, CBT is a gradual process that helps to make reasonable but irreversible steps toward behavior change.
Keep in mind that CBT is most effective when done regularly, under the supervision of a specialist.
