I treat a variety of people so my work is continuously creative. I am privileged to help them develop and change as they find their way through a morass of conflicting life scripts.
Many ask me about cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, and so I thought I’d review the basics of this popular therapeutic approach and compare it with other therapeutic techniques.
In CBTyou, the client identify the situations or conditions in your life to focus on and become aware of your thoughts, emotions and beliefs. Then we work together to discover and reframe your negative or inaccurate thinking referred to as cognitive distortions.
CBTis considered short-term therapy, limited to consist of 10-20 sessions. However, the length of treatment may change, depending on the complexity of issues. Homework, such as exercises or reading assignments, may be a part of the treatment.
In any type of psychotherapy, it is important to remember that, as you begin to confront past and current conflicts, you may at first feel worse; you may not feel relief or see improvement until you’ve had several sessions. The goal of treatment may not cure or make an unpleasant situation go away, but will give you the power to cope with it in a constructive way and to feel better about yourself and your life.
The boundaries among the psychotherapeutic approaches are not as precise as you might think. For example, CBTtherapy may combine interpersonal therapy to focus on relationships with other people.
Although a psychoanalytic treatment is less focused, and examines your early life history, this brand of talk therapy also includes elements of CBT.
Sigmund Freud, commonly referred to as the father of psychoanalysis, worked with individuals to examine their core beliefs and their relationship to behavior, actually incorporating into his practice, elements of what today we call CBT.
Many people say simply “I want to be happy.” But how to define happiness?
Actually the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who lived long before the birth of psychoanalysis or CBT, defined happiness in a way that dovetails with the goal of the psychotherapies. He proposed that happiness comes from a continuous effort to become the best possible version of one’s self. Like his teacher, Plato and Plato’s own teacher Socrates, he subscribed to the ancient proverb: Know thyself.
A successful psychotherapy may be more a matter of finding a good-enough psychotherapistthan seeking a specific brand of therapy.
A good- enough therapistis positive, encourages dialogue and doesn’t impose any personal agenda on you. The therapist remains supportive, objective and uninvolved in your life outside of the therapeutic session, and recognizes and applies the best approach/technique to guide you to uncover the obstacles, thinking patterns or conflicts that impede your progress. (In my personal psychotherapy, I’ve had both good-enough and not-so-good psychotherapeutic experiences.)
Conclusion: In a supportive, safe environment, a good-enough psychotherapist integrates psychological techniques and identifies the factors that obstruct your progress toward personal growth and happiness.
Dear Reader, I look forward to your comments.
jsimon145@gmail.com
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