CBT aims to transform ways of thinking and behaving that stand in the way of how a person would like to live their life. This involves identifying negative perceptions or distortions that affect behavior.
A distorted view can make a person more susceptible to:
• An unhelpful mindset
• Jumping to conclusions
• Mistakenly seeing situations as catastrophic
• Seeing things as either good or bad, with nothing in between
If people learn fearful or unhelpful ways of thinking, they can start to think in this way automatically. CBT focuses on challenging these automatic thoughts and comparing them with reality. When a person comes to view a particular situation in a more helpful way, their distress may decrease, and they can take actions or make decisions that are more likely to serve them in the long term.
An example: Dental phobia
A person with dental phobia may fear going to the dentist because they believe they will experience severe pain or even death by having a dental procedure. This fear may stem from a negative experience, perhaps in childhood.
A CBT therapist can work with the person to address this thinking, which says, “Because I had pain with a filling, all dental visits will be painful.” CBT encourages affected people to see future dental treatments in a new way. A therapist may also devise a way to approach dental visits in small, manageable steps to overcome the fear.