Cognative Therapy

For Depression or Anxiety
Cognitive therapy is generally used for clients experiencing depression or anxiety. The person dealing with depression or anxiety often experiences negative thinking that is not always realistic. These negative thoughts dominate how the person perceives the event and thus the feelings associated with the event. A person who is depressed will often have overly negative interpretations of an event.

How does Cognitive Therapy Help?
The nature of our feelings is largely determined by the way we think about the situation or event. Many of the negative thoughts and beliefs have become automatic to the depressed person. The first step is to learn to identify the negative thoughts and how they influence their lives. Once these negative thoughts have been identified, the person can then learn to dispute them, as well as their beliefs about themselves and others. The outcome will be a reduce level of depression.

Example of Negative Thinking

How does the depressed person view the break up of a relationship? The person who is depressed will often have feelings of worthlessness and believe he or she is unlovable. These negative thoughts will only make the depression worse if allowed to continue. With cognitive therapy, the person will learn to reframe the negative thoughts into more realistic thoughts and therefore learn to view the event differently, which will lead to a reduction in the depression.