A form of psychotherapy focused on changing thoughts and behaviors that are related to specific target symptoms. Treatment is aimed at symptom reduction and improved functioning. The patient is taught to recognize the negative and unrealistic thought patterns that contribute significantly to the development or maintenance of symptoms and to evaluate and modify such thinking patterns. Problematic behaviors are also focused on and changed with the use of behavioral strategies (e.g., response prevention, scheduling pleasant activities).
A behavioral approach that emphasizes the role of perceptions and interpretations of events as determinants of behavioral disorders.
A form of psychotherapy based on the premise that beliefs, attitudes, and thought patterns are learned and can be modified, using various techniques such as guided imagery and self-talk to produce desirable emotions.
An approach to resolving emotional conflicts and mental illnesses that emphasizes techniques focused on current thinking (cognition) and direct experience (behavior). Different varieties of cognitive-behavioral therapy are known as rational-emotive therapy, reality therapy, and transactional analysis. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is typically used for a period of weeks rather than an extended time. It is effective for specific emotional issues, mild depression, anxiety, and problems with anger.
A short-term cognitively oriented therapeutic approach that also uses behavioral strategies that is designed to challenge dysfunctional automatic thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs that sustain a particular disorder and to replace them with healthier realistic thinking patterns.