Cognitive behavioral therapy

The cognitive behavioral therapy (KVT) is one of the most widely practiced methods of psychotherapy. It combines classical behavior therapy and cognitive therapy and is one of the best-researched psychotherapy procedures.

What is cognitive behavioral therapy?

In cognitive behavioral therapy, the client has to work very actively and actively practice the behaviors developed in the therapy in his everyday life between the sessions.

The term “cognitive” comes from Latin and means “to recognize”. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of several behavioral therapy techniques. In contrast to psychoanalysis, which is about deciphering a person's motives and behavior via the subconscious, behavioral therapy is based on the behavioristic approach that all behavior patterns of a person have been learned and are thus forgotten again or replaced by better behavior patterns can.

The ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus already knew "It is not the things that make us unhappy, it is our view of things". Accordingly, the aim of cognitive behavioral therapy is to find out harmful thoughts and beliefs and to replace them with new behavioral patterns.

Function, effect & goals

Cognitive behavior therapy is suitable for depression, addictions, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders. But physical complaints such as chronic pain, rheumatism or tinnitus can also be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy or at least help to be able to cope with the complaints better.

The client has to work very actively and between the sessions actively practice the behaviors developed in the therapy in his everyday life. In the case of more severe depression or anxiety problems, he is very challenged and can sometimes reach his limits. Sometimes medication to relieve the worst symptoms is necessary at the start of therapy in order to enable behavioral therapy to take place at all. Cognitive behavior therapy is particularly suitable for coping with very specific problems. The reasons for this are secondary.

The chemistry between the psychotherapist and the client must be right so that a trusting cooperation can succeed. In the initial consultation, the client describes his problems and formulates wishes and expectations of the therapy. Based on these, treatment goals are set together and a therapy plan is drawn up, which can be changed if necessary in the course of therapy. In order for the therapist to recognize harmful thought patterns, it is important that the client write down their thoughts for a while, e.g. B. as diary entries.

Thereafter, the therapist and client jointly consider whether the client has an appropriate, realistic assessment of things, what happens if he behaves differently than usual, whether he is making progress and where problems may arise. Relaxation exercises and problem-solving strategies are also practiced that the client can use at home. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the solution-oriented short-term procedures. The duration is individually different.

Some clients feel a significant improvement after just a few sessions, for others it can take a few months. The health insurance companies usually cover 25 sessions for short-term therapies. A session lasts 50 minutes and the sessions take place once a week. At the beginning there are 5 introductory interviews so that the psychotherapist and client get to know each other better. Subsequently, an application is made to the health insurance company to cover the costs. Cognitive behavioral therapies are carried out in psychological practices, clinics and rehabilitation facilities and offered as individual or group therapies, depending on the problem.

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Risks, side effects & dangers

In general, psychotherapy can also lead to undesirable side effects. If the client actively deals with his fears and problems, this can be very stressful for him and his environment. An open conversation with the therapist helps.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the best-researched psychotherapy methods and its effectiveness has been particularly proven in mild and moderate depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders. It is particularly advantageous that, with the help of cognitive behavioral therapy, measurable successes can be achieved after a relatively short period of time. However, certain requirements are necessary for this.

This procedure requires the active participation of the client and does not work for clients who refuse to work with the therapist and refuse to look at a situation differently. If the client sees themselves more as a victim and makes their happiness dependent on someone or something offering them that, behavior therapy will not do them much. Because cognitive behavioral therapy is a short-term method, it is useful for severe mental disorders such as B. less suitable for processing traumatic experiences.

Since the client has to work actively, he needs a reasonably stable psyche, which is usually only possible through medication in the case of severe disorders. Before starting therapy, it is important to check exactly how the disorder can best be treated. If medication has to be administered in order to achieve a therapeutic capability, it must also be checked whether the changes in behavior that have been developed can persist even after the medication has been discontinued.

In general, with behavioral therapy, one has to consider that not only a cure is decisive for the success of the therapy, but that a therapy success can also consist in being able to face the problem better in the future. Ultimately, no psychotherapy method can guarantee success because working with people cannot foresee what will result in the course of psychotherapy.