What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?
- Jamie Cohen, LMHC
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Therapy - so many acronyms, so little time. Sometimes it can be difficult to parse what kind of therapy you’re engaged in, what modalities and frameworks you’d like to work from or what resonates with you as a therapy client. One term you may have seen and wondered about is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, which is one of the most researched and evidence-based psychotherapy practices out there. It is based on the concept of the “CBT Triangle”, the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected:
Sometimes CBT is more manualized or distinct as a therapy framework, and other times CBT concepts are incorporated into weekly psychotherapy in eclectic ways. To learn more about if/how your therapist is incorporating CBT into your work together, you can always always always ask them.
One way to start using a CBT framework is by considering some of the negative, automatic or ruminative thoughts that pop into your head, writing them down and considering how these thoughts might make you feel and/or behave. Once you do this, you have an opportunity to remind yourself that your thoughts are not necessarily facts. This can help create some breathing room in engaging with the thoughts, which can in turn create more freedom to change how you feel or behave in response. This is the power of the CBT triangle!
Jamie Cohen, MA, earned her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Lesley University. She considers herself a career-changer with a little over a decade of previous experiences in startup, agency, corporate and nonprofit work environments, so she understands many of the stressors that come with balancing personal and professional expectations and identities.
Jamie takes a collaborative approach to counseling and will start any new therapeutic relationship by talking with her clients about what they are hoping to get out of therapy.
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