Definition of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapy that integrates two approaches, namely cognitive therapy and behavior therapy. CBT is a form of psychological treatment that is most widely used by practitioners and is researched by various parties.
Cognitive therapy is a therapy which aims to change the individual’s way of thinking that is wrong and becomes something that is worrying. Let’s take an example. Such inappropriate thinking is like thinking that a person is not appreciated by a certain group so that it makes the individual stay away from a group that does not necessarily really do not respect the person.
If cognitive therapy is given, it is expected that clients can respond to these inappropriate thoughts more rationally. So, their thinking and behavior are more effective.
Now, how about behavioral therapy? The aim of this therapy is to teach an individual to change their behavior, such as changing their inappropriate behavior so that the person can be more comfortable in living their daily life.
Benefits of CBT
Benefits of CBT in the therapeutic process are expected to be able to correct inappropriate thinking and change wrong behavior in these individuals (Gazzaniga et al., 2011).
In the application of cognitive behavioral therapy, first it is hoped that the symptoms experienced by the clients will be better and furthermore, it is hoped that the functioning of the client will improve over time (Gaudiano, 2008).
History and Development of CBT
Around 1960, Aaron Beck developed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which was started from clinical findings and observations on his clients which showed that clients who were depressed had characteristics of cognitive distortions in their thinking (Chand et al., 2021). These preliminary findings also showed that depression is not only a disturbance in mood, but also a disturbance in the individual’s cognitive function.
Because this type of treatment appeared, it has attracted the attention of a lot of parties and cognitive behavioral therapy has become one of the most widely applied and researched techniques. As a result, the development of CBT does not just stop, but it continues to grow.
The use of CBT increases more and it has led to the development of more protocols for CBT therapy steps to meet varied therapeutic needs. For example, the application of CBT either as a single therapy or in combination with other methods such as hypnotherapy to treat anxiety disorders, major depression, emotional disorders, eating disorders, insomnia, relational problems, and so on (Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) | Betterhealth.Vic.Gov.Au, t.t.).
CBT is a psychotherapy which is rooted from the integration of cognitive and behavioral therapy, so it still uses the basics or cognitive models in practice. As explained by Chand et al. (2021) that there are three aspects of cognition that underlie cognitive behavioral therapy as you are able to read below.
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- Automatic Thoughts
This aspect explains the automatic thinking process as a form of interpretation of events that appear suddenly and can influence the emotions and behavior of individuals as a form of response to these conditions.
For example, when there is someone who does not attend your invitation for no reason, you may have automatic thoughts such as “he does not want to meet you because he does not like you”. This thinking will influence your emotion and behavior the next time you get in touch with that person.
However, there are other thoughts that can appear such as “Probably he forgot or he has other more important things to do.” This thinking are less likely to have a negative impact in the future.
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- Cognitive Distortion
What is cognitive distortion? It is a condition where an individual experiences errors in drawing conclusions. Making mistakes in making conclusions can cause interference in daily life.
For example, if you experience cognitive distortion in the form of minimization or perceive positive experience as real but meaningless, it will interfere with the meaning of your lives.
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- Underlying Beliefs or Schemes
This aspect explains where individuals’ basic schemas or beliefs can change their interpretation and perception of events that occur in their lives.
That belief is divided into two, namely core belief which is described as the main idea about self and the world, the most basic, rigid and too general, like the belief “I am worthless.” The second belief is an intermediate belief where it is a belief which contains assumptions, attitudes and rules that are influenced by the individual’s core belief, for example “in order to be appreciated, I have to be able to do everything that is asked.”
The Application of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
In practice in the field, cognitive behavioral therapy is given by counsellors, psychologists, and therapists through various forms of counselling or therapy individually or in groups, either face-to-face or online.
There have been a lot of studies and case studies that prove the success of implementing CBT, but there are several things that need to be considered before implementing it. For example, this therapy is not suitable for clients with a history of brain injury which results in impaired rational thinking.
Besides, this therapy also needs active participation and cooperation as well as a long time to achieve the desired goals (Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) | Betterhealth. Vic.Gov.Au, t.t.).
That’s all the explanation about CBT and for your information, this article is based on an article on Kampus Psikologi site written by Anjuni Khofifah Hanifi, S.Psi. So,iIf you want to read the Indonesian version, you are able to check that site.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
