CBT: so your mind works for you, not against you

Cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT is a widely used treatment for various mental health issues. CBT offers tools for recognizing how unhelpful, habitual thoughts affect your feelings and actions. Once you catch yourself in a negative thought loop, you can start to change it. Practicing this with a CBT therapist like me can help you develop healthier patterns for a happier attitude.

CBT can also be useful for clients with specific goals in mind. I am currently enrolled in the first phase of training for a specific CBT technique called EMDR. Short for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, EMDR was discovered about 30 years ago. It has been shown to be effective in helping clients who struggle to recover from trauma. It uses both sides of the brain to change the way our traumatic memories get stored. 

The word "trauma" may bring to mind car crashes, military battles, or natural disasters. It also includes less obvious mental, physical, and emotional wounds. Studies of adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, have expanded our knowledge of trauma. Emotional neglect, grief, growing up around dysfunction or addiction, or even growing up in poverty, can all have gradual, cumulative, negative effects on our mental health.

Note: there are many types of therapy; CBT is a more scientific approach than others. I also believe that people have souls. This is why I offer both CBT and Depth therapy.

Image credit:  "Cognitive Foundations for Visual Analytics" by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - PNNL is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0