THIS COURSE WILL GO LIVE SOON IN THE MEANTIME READ THE INTRODUCTION SO LONG
Dr JC Coetzee
Introduction
Our whole operation is based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is one of the most commonly used psychotherapeutic approaches for treating mental health problems. CBT helps you to identify, challenge and overcome your dysfunctional thoughts, behaviors and emotions.
Checkout the video by Dr. JC Coetzee, PhD that will tell you all about what’s included in your subscription. Or read below for details.
The basics of CBT
Since CBT constitutes the whole foundation for our online therapy program, we believe that it’s important for you to get a quick insight into what CBT is.
Cognitive: A term describing your thoughts and anything to do with the mind’s function, e.g. thinking, understanding, learning and remembering.
Behavioral: A term describing how we respond to stimuli, such as the things we do as well as the things we do not do.
CBT is based on the idea that your thoughts are what cause your feelings and behaviors, not external stimuli like people, situations and events. That is, it’s not the stimuli that causes your emotions, but it’s how you interpret and perceive that stimuli. The benefit of this insight is that you can change the way you think, so that you feel and act better, even if the situation hasn’t changed. As you can see in the illustration above, there is a cycle of consequences with everything you do. This plays a great part in your overall feelings.
How does CBT online work?
- IT HELPS YOU TO IDENTIFY AND CHALLENGE YOUR SPECIFIC PROBLEMS CBT is a problem-specific and pragmatic approach since it helps you to identify your specific problems and then gives you therapeutic tools so that you can overcome those problems. CBT differs from many other therapies by having a clear predetermined structure, rather than the person talking/thinking freely about whatever comes to mind. Compared to traditional therapy, it also focuses on what is happening in your life here and now, rather than exploring what happened in the past.
- IT TEACHES YOU TO THINK IN A DIFFERENT WAYCBT is particularly well developed and empirically supported in cases where clients frequently experience excessively negative thoughts that arise automatically, even in response to stimuli that might otherwise be experienced as positive. CBT helps you understand the importance of thinking and how it affects how you feel and what you do. This very much includes learning to record your thoughts and looking at them more realistically.
- IT HELPS YOU TO UNLEARN UNWANTED REACTIONS CBT is based on the scientifically supported assumption that most emotional and behavioral reactions are learned. Therefore, the goal of the therapy is to help you unlearn your unwanted reactions and to learn a new way of reacting.
- SUPPORTS YOU WITH HANDS-ON TOOLS Each of the eight sections in our program is comprised of video (guided by Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo, PhD), audio, reading material and practical activities. You will use worksheets, create your own activity plan and start keeping a journal. These are very important parts of CBT and will give you and your therapist the foundation to work from in overcoming your problems. If you thoroughly complete all of these activities, we guarantee that you will make the most of our program and get the best results. These tools will make you look at and think about problems and situations in a different way.
- IT PROVIDES LONG-TERM RESULTS The educational emphasis of CBT has an additional benefit in that it leads to long-term results. When people understand how and why they are doing well, they know what to do to continue doing well. Everything you learn from our program can be used over and over again. Your therapist will show you how you can stay in control of your problems and manage your own recovery on a long-term basis.