Cognitive therapy, also known as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), is a short-term psychotherapy used in treating many mental health disorders including anxiety, according to The American Institute for Cognitive Therapy. Unlike other forms of therapy such as psychodynamic therapy, cognitive therapy focuses on the present and the future. However, a cognitive therapist will take a mental health and family history during the consultation or first session.
Identifying Problems and Related Thoughts
When a client enters therapy, a cognitive therapist will ask the client why he's chosen to come to therapy, and if he's suffering from anxiety, he'll probably state this as his main reason. The client's therapist would help him come up with specific goals for therapy, so he can keep track of his progress. For example, if he suffers from social anxiety, a goal might be to introduce himself to someone new without experiencing symptoms of anxiety or to give a presentation to his class without panicking.
In order to reach his goals, his therapist would help him understand how his thoughts affect his emotions and behaviors. He'll have to identify the thoughts he experiences when anxious. For instance, if a client suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder due to being robbed, she might think she's in danger whenever she gets close to the place she was robbed at even though she isn't in danger. It's important for someone suffering from anxiety to understand how those thoughts affect anxiety symptoms.
Homework Assignments
Cognitive therapists recognize that clients can't cure or reduce their anxiety if they spend only 45 minutes or an hour in therapy once a week on the problem, so they work with their clients to come up with homework assignments, according to the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists. For example, many people who suffer from anxiety disorders have a hard time coping with stress and become easily overwhelmed by daily stressors, so homework assignments might range from implementing preventive stress relieving techniques to taking five deep breaths in between meetings at work.
Challenging and Changing Negative Thoughts
Thoughts have a lot of power. They influence the level of anxiety, so cognitive therapists work with their clients to help them challenge and change their negative and anxious thoughts. If a client suffers from a phobia such as a fear of dogs, she might think, "Dogs are vicious and mean." This might be true in rare circumstances. Maybe she encountered an untrained dog when she was young and it bit her, but this doesn't mean that most dogs will hurt her. This phobia might not seem serious, but it can severely limit a person's ability to have successful relationships with anyone that owns a dog. A therapist would help that person practice relaxation techniques and then introduce a well-trained, gentle dog to her in a safe environment. The therapist would work with the client on the thoughts that she experiences when around dogs, so her life isn't controlled by the phobia.
