Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an active therapy approach and is the most extensively researched form of psychotherapy ever developed. It is held as the "Gold Standard" for the treatment of all the anxiety disorders and depression including panic attacks, phobias, excessive worry, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and social anxiety. These problems have specific triggers, e.g., anxiety over a new job or relationship that leaves you avoiding your problems. CBT is based on the premise that the way we think (cognition) determines the way we feel (emotions). The behavioral aspect of CBT holds that once we feel anxious our anxiety causes us to avoid (behavior) doing what we need to do in order to feel better. CBT helps us understand that we are more than our thoughts, and that our negative thinking need not limit our happiness. Standard CBT therapy reminds us that if we are more accurate about how we interpret situations, we will feel better. CBT focuses on reducing symptoms and solving problems by building skills they may never have learned. CBT has several assumptions: people are motivated and willing to solve his/her current problems and, with brief training, can access thoughts and emotions needed to heal. Some problems in life are vague, ambiguous, lack a specific precipitant and become chronic. For these types of difficulties we refer to AEDP or Schema therapy.
