Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach that focuses on identifying, challenging and eventually changing unhelpful thinking habits and behaviours, improving emotional regulation and helping people develop more helpful ways of coping with life demands and problems.
It is an approach that is becoming increasingly more and more popular among people seeking psychotherapeutic support. One of the most important reasons is the strong scientific evidence based on significant, recent research findings indicating its effectiveness. It is now often described as the treatment of choice for a wide range of psychological problems, such as anxiety, depression, anger management and trauma.
Even though CBT is so widely used and recognised nowadays, it is still highly misunderstood. There are still numerous misconceptions around it, even among trained psychotherapists.
Let’s have a look at some of the most common myths about CBT and the facts behind them.
MYTH 1: CBT is a rigid, mechanical, one-size-fits-all approach where the therapist applies a very specific technique to each problem.
CBT has indeed many tools in its toolbox and does involve structured protocols and treatment plans for different disorders. However, people’s individuality is not ignored. Each person is unique and responds in a unique way to certain situations according to personality traits, previous life experiences and levels of emotional resilience. CBT therapists try to gain a detailed and deep understanding of each person’s experiences and needs. Client and therapist form a therapeutic relationship that is considered important and they work together as a team to develop a common framework of understanding the difficulties that have brought the client to therapy. A personalised treatment plan is then designed in order to help the client achieve the therapy goals.
MYTH 2: The ultimate goal of CBT is to shift negative thoughts to positive ones.
CBT focuses on challenging negative thinking patterns and, for this reason, many people believe that clients are invited to simply think positively about their problems. CBT encourages people to take a realistic look at their lives and explore more flexible, helpful ways of thinking. If a client has negative thoughts about a situation, they may be right. Their job might really be terrible or their relationship with their partner disfunctional. CBT helps people identify, accept and embrace both pleasant and unpleasant thoughts, feelings and sensations and try to find alternative, more helpful ways of coping with life demands.
MYTH 3: CBT isn’t interested in childhood or other past experiences.
CBT is an approach that mainly focuses on the present, on identifying the maintaining factors that keep the problem going and on person’s current thought, feelings and experiences. However, a brief exploration of past experiences, events and relationships is usually necessary for therapist and client to develop a common understanding of what has historically contributed to the problem and how certain beliefs or attitudes have been developed over the years.
MYTH 4: CBT only deals with superficial symptoms, however the root of the problem remains untreated.
A common criticism of CBT is that it simply removes the symptoms. However, evidence suggests that clients are protected from relapse after the end of therapy, as they learn skills they can generalise to many more difficulties and problems that might emerge in the future. The goal of CBT is to enable clients to become their own therapists and continue working on themselves following therapy sessions.
MYTH 5: CBT can treat only ‘simple’ problems, however a different type of help is needed for complex problems such as personality disorders or psychosis.
There is strong scientific evidence suggesting that CBT is proven to be effective with a wide variety of problems. CBT has excellent results with clients experiencing psychosis or dealing with personality disorders. A client who is fully engaged in the process, a good formulation and clear, meaningful goals that the client wants to accomplish are all positive indicators of a good therapeutic outcome.
CBT can help people to function in the ‘here and now’ for this reason it is a form of psychotherapy whose time has most definitely come.
References:
Tartakovsky, M. (2018). 5 Common Myths about Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. Psych Central. Retrieved on November 1, 2019, from https://psychcentral.com/lib/5-common-myths-about-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/
Westbrook, D., Kennerley, H. and Kirk, J. (2007) Common Myths about Cognitive Therapy (from Chapter 2 of An Introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: Skills and Applications