Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a non-medical way of solving health-related issues. These problems may include but are not limited to hot flashes, sleep problems, fatigue, depression, irrational fears, relationship problems, substance misuse, stress, gambling problems, insomnia, low self-esteem, and anxiety.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps provide coping skills and practical strategies to ease the pain that originates from these issues. The good thing about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is that it can help you with life coping skills. The CBT helps in any situation that may want to sweep you off your feet.

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

In practical terms, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be viewed as a form of psychotherapeutic engagement used to help individuals identify destructive or potentially destructive thoughts that can negatively influence them. Beyond identifying these negative or potentially destructive thought patterns, it seeks ways to help them stop the destructive influence it can have on their behavior and emotions.

Negative thought patterns amplify psychological issues like depression, anxiety, and other emotional issues. The impact of these negative thoughts has always caused colossal damage to destinies and humanity at large. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is used to salvage the dent negative thoughts have on humanity and prevent further occurrence.

Why Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has become necessary because some negative thought patterns are on autopilot with some people. Many affected individuals cannot explain how they wander into these thought patterns. Somehow, they found themselves there. Most of the time, the only response they can give is the bad influence that comes with these negative thoughts.

Therefore, it means that many people who are damaged by these negative thoughts do not have control over these thoughts themselves. To be able to alter the damaging effects of the negative thoughts, they will need to exercise some form of control over the thought patterns to stop the damaging effects. So, they need people to help them gain that control and alter the bad influence and damaging flow that comes with negative thought patterns. Provision of help in situations like this is where Cognitive Behavioral Therapy comes in.

Who Can Provide Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can only be done with the help of someone who will help the patient. The person handling the therapy can’t be just anybody. We need to be intentional about the choice of that individual to achieve the exact result we hope to achieve. So, who can provide CBT?

So far, only a few people have been identified to provide Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. These include psychologists, counselors, coaches, psychiatrists, social workers, and therapists. It is worthy of note that not just anyone called by these names can provide CBT. Still, people can be specially trained to help those with psychological issues and problems.

Interestingly, there are people with certification in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Working with such people in any of the above-mentioned cases is better. Since they have been trained, they would be able to use their technical skills to assist clients in getting expected or desired results. So, beyond being a Psychiatrist, Psychologist, etc., having Cognitive Behavioral Therapy certification is important.

The expert offering CBT services may provide it to an individual or a group of persons. Where the services are meant for a group of persons, such people must be suffering from the same issue and be ready for the healing process. The therapist will provide a framework for the therapy, lead the sessions, and provide homework for in-between sessions.

Types of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

To understand Cognitive Behavioral Therapy very well, it is pertinent that we look into the available types of therapy. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is targeted at addressing emotions, thoughts, and behavior. The CBT service is made possible by applying different approaches during sessions. Let’s take a look at four types of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is also referred to as cognitive restructuring. It is a way of helping people identify and change distorted thinking patterns, behavioral responses, and emotional responses. After identification, it provides techniques that create better and healthier responses behaviorally and emotionally.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical behavior therapy focuses on behavior and thoughts in a way that helps clients incorporate strategies that will enhance mindfulness and emotional regulation. It is mainly to extract negative thoughts and behavior. It then replaces it with some emotional regulation tips while being intentional with your emotions.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

Rational emotive behavior therapy focuses on irrational beliefs and helps clients to dissociate from those beliefs. We all have beliefs that may not favor our life progress. This therapy helps challenge, unlearn, and change these beliefs to give way to new healthy thought-patterns necessary for a good life.

Multimodal Therapy

This therapy looks at seven modalities. It also works on each and uses their interconnection to acquire a healthier thought pattern, emotion, and behavior. These modalities include behavior, imagination, feeling, cognition, biological considerations, emotions, and interpersonal factors. These modalities are tools that people may have wrongly used. With multimodal therapy, the modalities will be redirected for good results.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is based on the principle that thoughts determine emotion and feelings, influencing behavior. So, every session in the therapy is built up to analyze, identify, challenge, and change bad thought patterns. The tools used in bringing about the change in thought patterns to influence behavior are called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques.

The therapist uses several Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques to achieve results, and each is used as the situation demands. Several techniques are used because there are no two cases that are the same. Every case is unique. The uniqueness determines which technique is employed for results. Let’s take a brief look at a few of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is used to help clients confront and challenge fears. This tool gradually introduces the client to the phobia or fear during therapy sessions. It simultaneously provides keys to coping and winning in these situations. This exposure will gradually build the client’s confidence even without knowing it until they have overcome the hurdles.

Behavioral Experiment

This tool is used to treat behavioral disorders. It helps people get back to life from situations or activities that normally put them in bad or unhealthy behavior. For a therapist to use this tool, the client would be asked to predict the aftermath of a situation that normally gets them worked up. They will eventually begin to tilt towards healthy behavior as they do this continuously. Usually, they start with lower versions of situations that make them anxious, which helps build confidence over time.

Role-Playing

Role-playing is a great tool that enables therapists to help clients address issues like fear, communication issues, social skills issues, and assertiveness training. Clients will be asked to participate in role-playing in possible scenarios depicting the issue being addressed. The use of this tool will lessen the fear and errors that may have been plaguing the clients.

Successive Approximation

This therapy tool is good for those who are overwhelmed with certain tasks. The process is that the tasks are broken into small bits for easy accomplishment. As clients do each of these bits, he realizes nothing is killing about the task. Hence confidence is achieved, and clients can go on to approach the task and similar tasks with that confidence.

Cognitive Reframing

This tool is targeted at thought patterns. Therapists will help clients discover the trend of negative thoughts in situations and how they eventually impact clients badly. Once the client understands this, he can see how to break away from the negative thought flow. If you can break off from the negative thought flow, you won’t have the same result you have always had. That is the goal.

Guided Discovery

This tool helps clients to discover a new path for better results. It involves the therapist asking questions after they must have understood your point of view. The questions are meant to open the client’s mind to discover new things themselves. It is basically to broaden the mindset. With a broad mindset, new reactions and behavior will certainly come.

Journaling

Journaling is another tool used to help clients identify the flow of thoughts, feelings, and actions per time. It involves writing out thoughts, feelings, moods, and actions per time to understand the flow and interconnection of thoughts. With this, the client will be able to understand and adopt healthy responses following similar situations.

Several other Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques can be used to change things and achieve desired results with a client. These are just a few of the known Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques. More of these techniques are employed to achieve results as the situation demands.

How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Can Help Menopausal Symptoms

One of the questions you will want to answer is whether Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has anything to do with menopausal symptoms. Suppose you understand what Cognitive Behavioral Therapy means from the discussions above and what menopausal symptoms look like. In that case, you will agree that there is a point where they met.

Menopausal symptoms come with several psychological issues and emotional downturns. Some of these symptoms include depression, fear, lack of confidence, insomnia, hot flashes, and marriage issues. These identified issues make a woman with menopausal symptoms a candidate for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; this is the point where Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and menopausal symptoms meet.

Simply put, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is used to help women bounce back to their normal lives while they go through menopausal symptoms. With menopausal symptoms, life can be frustrating and unbearable for women. Still, the woman will get back her life with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Then, CBT addresses all of the fears and depression.

It is worthy of note that when a woman goes through menopausal symptoms, it is not only her that bears the brunt. Her partner is also a co-heat feeler. The wife has become a new person different from who the partner used to know. So, living with this new stranger is quite challenging since they are both in the same situation.

Therefore, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will help both of them. There is a part for a man, especially where the man is helped with understanding the menopausal symptoms. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will help the man understand his role in the situation and how to balance it with the woman. So, in the end, the couple needs Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Since one of the issues with the menopausal symptoms falls on sexual participation and enjoyment, having the woman and her partner go through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will be highly productive for them both. In addition, the husband can learn how to support his wife in this phase, and they both know how to work together to ensure their relationship remains in love.

More importantly, the woman will learn how to gain confidence and accept herself through menopause. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps her walk out of the looming depression that may make her mind think she is worthless because of menopausal symptoms. Her mind opening up is key to achieving the desired result.

More things can be treated during menopausal symptoms using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It depends on which is an issue for the woman and her partner. Apart from sexual issues and depression, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sessions will address other things like sleep difficulties, mood swings, and hot flashes. So, if these are issues of concern, therapy is a way out.

In helping women with menopausal symptoms, it is expedient to state that one may not be able to state categorically the particular Cognitive Behavioral Therapy technique that is best for them. Each case is unique in its own right. Regarding people, what works for A may not work for B. Even if two couples have the same issue with menopausal symptoms, it does not necessarily mean the same technique would work for them.

Also, there is no formula for dealing with menopausal symptoms through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Humans are unique in their thoughts and views. Therefore administering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for women with menopausal symptoms and their partners does not come with a particular formula. Instead, one should flow with each situation as they unfold, create a unique framework, and let the sessions flow towards the goal.

As good as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is for women, let’s not forget that the first point to begin the healing process is for the woman to be willing to sign up for one and be ready to attend sessions. It is necessary to attend the sessions and also work with the therapist by being open and actively participating in the entire process. Women must realize that therapists are friends who mean well with the sessions.

Also, both women and their partners must realize that it is not a sign of weakness to reach out to a therapist to help in trying times. On the contrary, it will only make you stronger. Menopausal symptoms can be overwhelming, and if care is not taken, it can damage all you have built over the years. It even can take a life if not well attended to. Hence the need for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

What’s the average cost of CBT?

When it comes to the price of anything, it is not always fixed except in some cases. Prices are dependent on a whole lot of things. For a professional service like this, prices may not be ascertained because factors influence price based on demand and supply.

Generally, for a service like this, some of the factors that influence the cost may include location, the exact service being rendered, the professional handling the issue, the length of the therapy, the number of people involved in the therapy, and the mentality towards therapy in the said location where you are trying to access the service.

For the sake of naming a figure, each therapy session may not cost more than $200 for one person. Each session may last up to 50 minutes. In the case of group therapy, the price depends on the therapist. That may be calculated based on how many people and the end goal the therapist is trying to achieve with the group.

Some therapists charge based on the number of sessions they will have with their clients. So, instead of charging per session, they give a particular amount for the service. That will be okay for the entire engagement. It means the charge pattern of a therapist is a determinant of the cost. For this reason, the charges of therapists may vary depending on the services rendered.

So, the best way to find out about the average cost will be to do a rough survey within your area. You may even contact a few therapists and ask how much they charge per session. You can even reach out to as many as you can online but ensure you check their addresses for convenience when you decide to go for one. But, again, proximity is key so as not to get tired halfway, thereby disrupting the entire healing process.

Are there any side effects of CBT?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy may come with some side effects. The applications of the various techniques have no damaging effect on people. Instead, the side effects originate from a different phenomenon. The side effects of CBT usually originate from either slow results or unachieved results, especially in cases that need serious attention.

When results are not as forthcoming as expected, clients may become frustrated and unwilling to continue the process. Once a client signs up for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, be informed that an expectation has been built. If it is not happening, interest may decline, and the client may become more depressed than when they came.

The frustration at the lack of results may make clients go into a deep depression, believing their case has no solution. This thought alone is suicidal, and it means that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is now instrumental to people committing suicide when it should be helping to solve the problem and giving life to clients.

In cases where drugs are recommended with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, it has been identified that the side effects come from the drug rather than the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy process. But it is quite unfortunate that clients would not separate the drug from the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy itself; they will believe that the CBT is not working.

Conclusively, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be a great way to give people back their life by helping them identify the path to a meaningful back. It is a way to help people find the joy, confidence, and meaning they once had. The rediscovery of these things is not from the outside world but from within themselves. People should start meaningful living by getting strong motivation for life from within.

So, why may the woman lose herself to menopause? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is used to help her reinvent herself and live a meaningful life in the future. That means there is much more to living after menopause, only if the woman submits to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help her find her path to rediscovering herself and the new life waiting for her on the right path.