What many don’t know about CBT is how many types of mental health conditions it can be used to treat. Because of this flexibility, we include cognitive behavioral therapy in Tucson, AZ as an option to treat a variety of mental illnesses. The types of mental health disorders that often respond well to the use of CBT include:
Anxiety
Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the United States. Symptoms like feeling anxious and having panic attacks can cause a person’s life to grind to a halt. Even the fear of fear becomes problematic for many.
Using cognitive behavioral therapy can help treat anxiety by teaching methods like breathing and relaxation techniques. Additionally, the person can learn to stop a pattern of always assuming the worst. Writing in a journal is another big part of helping to alleviate anxiety.
Depression
Depression can make it difficult for people to function or even to get out of bed in the morning. Their moods cloud their ability to enjoy life and finding joy again can seem impossible.
Cognitive behavioral therapy can help improve the symptoms of depression. It helps the individual to challenge their assumptions and beliefs about themselves and external input. They learn habits like practicing positive self-talk that enables them to lift their moods both in the moment and long term.
Bipolar Disorder
Someone who has bipolar disorder experiences mood swings they cannot control without assistance. While prescription medications offer a great deal of help, adding cognitive behavioral therapy can provide even more relief.
CBT helps people address both their manic and depressive symptoms. They can learn to predict and manage them when they occur. The individual also learns how to deal with relationships in their lives impacted by bipolar disorder. This can minimize distressful emotions and decrease some of the episodes.
PTSD and Complex Trauma
When people experience trauma, including a one-time event or a series of events that constitute trauma, it can drastically impact their mental health. The trauma may have happened in the past or be an ongoing event.
Therapists use cognitive behavioral therapy to help people reframe the reactions they have when triggering thoughts and emotions occur. Controlled exposure to memories or events of the trauma helps the person move past the damage caused by it. In turn, this helps minimize symptoms of PTSD and complex trauma.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a complicated mental health disorder that can affect a person’s ability to perceive reality. This can make it difficult to perform chores associated with daily living and even become dangerous.
Using cognitive behavioral therapy can greatly help reduce schizophrenia symptoms, including hallucinations, delusional thinking, difficulty focusing, and more. Used in combination with medications, a person can greatly improve due to the use of CBT.
Dual Diagnosis
Dual diagnosis is the presence of both a mental illness and a substance use disorder. Someone who deals with this double challenge can find it helpful to engage in cognitive behavioral therapy.
CBT helps people addicted to drugs and alcohol to become motivated to change. The healthy coping skills they learn can keep them from automatically turning to the use of substances to deal with difficult life events. It also promotes seeking social support such as 12-step groups.
In addition to the the common mental health disorders listed above, CBT can treat an even wider range of mental health disorders as well such as ADHD.