Separating Facts from Fear: Recognizing Real vs Imagined Threats
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is the “identification of dysfunctional thinking patterns, distressing feelings or physiological experiences, and unproductive behaviors.” CBT is a type of therapy that tries to change problematic thinking into more adaptive and healthier thinking. CBT is also helpful in addressing problematic learned behaviors that can intensify mental and emotional distress. CBT helps to acknowledge thoughts as real and appropriate versus thoughts that might be spiraling out of control or eliciting intense emotions.
CBT and Anxiety
CBT interventions for Anxiety have been proven time and time again to be extremely helpful. CBT helps shift anxious thoughts to access the underlying helpful information your emotions are trying to communicate. Rather than focusing on your anxiety about an activity, CBT enables you to shift your mindset to planning tasks that prepare you for it. CBT can also help challenge “black-and-white” thinking, where we label things as either bad or good. It can help you acknowledge that an event can be a mix of both, where it wasn’t only bad but it wasn’t only good.
What are some ways you can use CBT to help with Anxiety?
CBT can help you reconstruct your thoughts
CBT is all about figuring out how a person processes and thinks about something. It is believed in CBT that the reason you have negative feelings towards an event is heavily influenced by your own beliefs about and reactions to the event. In CBT, you will work with your therapist to identify any problematic thinking you are having and then introduce adaptive thinking through cognitive restructuring.
Cognitive restructuring is shifting your thoughts and mindset to be more balanced and realistic about what occurred. It is easy to be anxious about an event and find yourself spiraling. An important element to include alongside CBT is mindfulness, as it fosters non-judgmental thinking, allowing oneself to experience more grace and love. Having these kinds of thoughts about yourself and others has been shown to help combat negative anxious thinking, as you are creating psychological distance.
CBT Highlights Cognitive Traps
A large part of cognitive restructuring is recognizing cognitive traps. A cognitive trap is an irrational negative thought process that leads to a negative attitude or emotion about an event. An example of an irrational thought might be thinking, “My friends will hate me if I can't hang out with them over the weekend.” In reality, your friends may express concern, but it is simply because they want what is best for you. Irrational thoughts can make life really tough and can intensify anxiety.CBT tries to emphasize the act of acknowledging when you are having irrational thoughts. Recognizing when you are caught in a cognitive trap allows you to form more balanced thinking, which in turn helps reduce your anxiety and other uncomfortable emotions.
Curtiss, J. E., Levine, D. S., Ander, I., & Baker, A. W. (2021). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatments for Anxiety and Stress-Related Disorders. Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing), 19(2), 184–189. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20200045
Scout Gomez
Scout is an undergraduate intern for Flourish Counseling & Wellness. Scout is currently a third-year student at Colorado State University, majoring in psychology and minoring in political science.
She hopes to continue her education in the future in a postgrad setting and eventually wants to become a licensed therapist.
