Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: 7 Ways to Freedom from Anxiety, Depression, and Intrusive Thoughts (Happiness is a trainable, attainable skill!)

by Lawrence Wallace

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.

there’s King Solomon’s saying “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”. And in Islam, this verse from Qur’an: “Surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition.”

The concept of thought as the basis of feeling is also reflected in modern psychology. It is at the core of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which helps patients change the way they feel by changing the way they think. CBT draws heavily on mindfulness techniques and other ways of “thinking about thinking” developed by Eastern philosophy.

We can’t always change our circumstances or the situations that life hands us, but we can change how we think about them—and thus, how we feel about them.

The central assertion

of CBT is that situations are viewed through cognitive frameworks that lead to specific thoughts. These thoughts lead to feelings. Feelings can be pleasant or unpleasant; in the case of anxiety and mood disorders, therapy usually addresses unpleasant feelings of distress, fear, or hopelessness.

Since feelings are often difficult to change directly, CBT focuses on changing the thoughts and behavior...

By being mindful of your thoughts, you can control your feelings and, consequently, your actions. This helps you manage your life more effectively, develop a positive outloo...

Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT)

Ultimately, Beck and Ellis both asserted that thoughts and beliefs are empirically testable hypotheses. Thus, if a client was suffering from depression or anxiety rooted in irrational beliefs, the condition could be greatly improved by the client’s collaborating with a therapist to identify the beliefs, challenge them, and form new, more reasonable beliefs and thinking patterns.

Anxiety is a normal emotion, but it can get out of control.

It helps us in physically dangerous situations by activating a part of the automatic nervous system and preparing the body for fighting or running away.

automatic nervous system controls all our involuntary activities, like breathing, ...

It has two components, the sympathetic and the parasympathet...

sympathetic nervous system can be thought of as a gas pedal. It triggers the fight-or-flight response, resulting in faster breathing and heart rate, the release of adrenaline and other st...

it stays activated when stress levels stay high, causing actual physical damage to our bodies including inflammation, high blood pressure, and a higher risk of heart disease. It also leads to symptoms that make day-to-day life more difficult and less enjoyable including insomnia, a sense of dread, irritability, restlessness, poor concentration, sweating, and feeling on edge.

doing things that activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

The parasympathetic nervous system is like the brake pedal.

Many things increase parasympathetic nervous system activity, including deep breathing, mantra meditation, yoga, repetitive prayer, tai chi, being in nature, visualizing calm scenes, and being with supportive friends or loved ones. CBT can help by changing the pattern

of thoughts and underlying beliefs that lead to an anxious emotional and physical state and by encouraging activities that reduce stress. It can also help by changing avoidance behaviors and maladaptive coping mechanisms.

negative thoughts about themselves and the future. They may feel hopeless or worthless and think that others do not like them.

When people have low mood or depression, they may avoid activities and events.

experience a wide range of symptoms, including feelings of sadness, guilt, isolation, or numbness, lack of confidence, self-loathing, trouble sleeping, lack of energy, altered appetite, lack of concentration,

Before beginning CBT, it’s important to understand the cognitive model, a theory used in psychology to explain how behaviors, thoughts, and feelings are related.

people believe that their feelings result from a situation—for example, “I did not do well on a work or school presentation” ➜ “I feel worthless.” Yet many people experience that same situation and react in ways that don’t include feeling worthless, even though they might feel frustrated or disappointed.

The cognitive model challenges the idea of a direct connection between situations or experiences and feelings and posits that it is actually the thoughts we have about those...

p...

with depression or anxiety tend to have thinking patterns that are dysfun...

CBT helps you learn how to change your thoughts about a situation in a way that changes the feelings that result from it. This is the cognitive aspect of cognitive behavioral therapy. The behavioral aspect of CBT deals with how different behaviors influence mood. It aims to teach clients to increase behaviors associated with a positive mood and avoid behaviors associated with a negative mood.

Cognitive theory outlines three levels of thoughts and beliefs: automatic thoughts, assumptions, and core beliefs.

Often, automatic thoughts overestimate threats and underestimate our ability to deal with

problems. Sometimes they become distorted, but we continue to accept them as true. These thoughts are the result of dysfunctional beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world, and they can be exaggerated by depression or anxiety. These thoughts can be identified, challenged, and replaced with more reasonable thoughts.

intermediate beliefs or assumptions, consists of views about the world that are less situation specific than automatic thoughts. They are essentially a type of rule or generalization that individuals develop as they process and categorize the patterns and information around them. These beliefs shape thoughts, which then influence behavior. Like automatic thoughts, assumptions can become distorted. For example, “If I am successful in the business world, I will be l...

core beliefs are foundational beliefs about the world that we usual...

They are generalized and absolute, though they can be...

The relationship between core beliefs, assumptions, automatic thoughts, and emotions can be summarized as follows: core beliefs ➜ assumptions ➜ automatic thoughts (generated by a situation) ➜ emotions.

the ABC model, which stands for activating event, beliefs and thoughts, and emotional and behavioral consequences. The “A-B-C” sequence represents the fact that an event or situation merely activates a series of thoughts; it does not cause feelings.