Posted by: Dr. Justin D'Arienzo, Psy.D., ABPP

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT in Jacksonville, Florida

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Article written by Michael Nackashi (June 2012), Psychology Student and Intern at D’Arienzo Psychological Group

There are many types of therapy that are effective in everyday practices, but none are as time efficient and rational as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is rooted in the idea that most of our behaviors are learned from plausible guesses or assumptions in a situation. For instance, if a person is walking down a street and hears two men catching up from behind, the person might guess that he/she is about to get robbed. Even though that thought might differ from the reality of the situation it still dictates how the person will behave when forced to act.

Psychologists use techniques in cognitive behavioral therapy to change a patient’s thought process rather than changing the environment around the patient. The push in this type of therapy is toward rational thought. It is important to think rationally because quality performance is based on it. If a person’s thought process is toward a plausible thought that isn’t consistent with reality the behavior will not be consistent with reality, hence poor performance.
Also, CBT is concerned with the “here and now” as opposed to psychodynamic psychotherapy which is concerned with past experiences. Unlike psychodynamic psychotherapy, CBT is time efficient because the patients are recommended to do homework exercises that directly apply to changing their particular thought process. However, CBT is similar to psychodynamic psychotherapy in that the therapy is directly focused on the individual instead of the therapeutic process.

An essential part of CBT is goal achievement. Psychologists learn the goals of their patients and teach them how to achieve those goals through rational thought. Patients learn to test thoughts considering that a thought could be correct or incorrect in terms of reality. Practicing this concept gives long-lasting results that will help patients become more productive and consistent with everyday life.

Dr. D’Arienzo and Alan Lipzin are Jacksonville, Florida Experts in CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. CBT is an effective treatment for stress and most anxiety and depressive conditions. Call today for help, 904-379-8094.