Explaining the Process of Cognitive Restructuring in CBT

Explaining the Process of Cognitive Restructuring in CBT

The process of cognitive restructuring, also known as reframing, is a key component of CBT. It helps you change unhealthy beliefs and thought patterns that may be contributing to your feelings of stress, anxiety or depression. Everyone has negative thoughts from time to time, but when they become a pattern, it can have a significant impact on your mood and well-being.

You will work through a number of techniques, including identifying the underlying assumptions in your thinking, using a process called guided discovery to uncover other perspectives, and reworking those thoughts into more realistic and helpful ones. You will practice rehearsing the new thought until it feels natural and starts to influence your mood and behaviour. It can be an uphill battle, but it is well worth the effort.

Cognitive behavioural therapy CBT is one of the most effective treatment options for mental disorders, such as social anxiety disorder. CBT is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on transforming ways of thinking and behaving that are standing in the way of how you would like to live your life.

Process of Cognitive Restructuring in CBT

This is a highly evidenced-based treatment approach, and it has been shown to have a greater effect than other forms of psychotherapy, such as interpersonal therapy, in treating conditions like social anxiety. CBT works by transforming unhelpful beliefs and perceptions that may be contributing to your symptoms by re-examining the facts, assessing them with the help of a therapist, and challenging their accuracy.

Changing negative thoughts can be a difficult task, especially when they have been ingrained over time. Your therapist will use several different strategies to help you challenge them, such as using a worksheet with different types of restructuring techniques. The best way to get the most benefit from this process is to work with your therapist on it, but you can do it yourself at home by choosing a self-help book with a worksheet and following its instructions as closely as possible.

A good way to start is by identifying the specific things that are bothering you, such as an upsetting conversation or a past event. Then, write down the original belief you had about it, what was the reason that you believed this, and how strongly you believe that your belief is true. Then, rate how true you believe it is on a scale of 0% to 100%.

Once you have identified a harmful automatic thought, you will identify how it has developed over time and its role in your symptom development. Your therapist will then guide you through the process of unraveling your distortions, and exploring how they got into place.

Your therapist will then replace your problematic thought with a more balanced viewpoint, one that is both more realistic and less stressful. It is important to note that this is not about switching from the extreme to the positive – this is a common mistake that people make and is very ineffective!