CBT is short for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. It is a form of short-term talking therapy. This means that the course of sessions does not last for a very long time. The particular methods of therapy are used for treating: OCD and other anxiety disorders, a range of depressive disorders, phobias (such as agoraphobia), and other similar psychological problems.
CBT and Weight Loss
Aside from the most obvious, this form of therapy may also be used for treating people with eating disorders as well as those with long-term weight problems. By this, it isn't meant that it implements a different kind of diet for the overweight, but rather aims to shed light on the psychological blocks which hinder the patient from having a steady and healthy diet. This means that the program focuses on changing the person's eating activity behaviors as well as a number of exercise skills.
This is to say that the therapy helps the patient differentiate emotional signals from true hunger signals, which then allows him or her to satisfy the emotional needs differently – thus resulting in a steadier diet.
What Else Will the CBT-treated Patient Learn?
The patient will also learn how to monitor his or her thoughts more closely. This only further adds to the previously stated – and that is that he or she will be able to tell the emotional, so called "automatic thoughts" and the bodily triggers apart more easily – as the automatic ones are often connected to eating disorders.
Another thing which the patient suffering from this particular type of disorder will learn to benefit from is the fact that he or she will know ho to, not only recognize the automatic thoughts, but also interrupt them. The implementation of these skills may take different time for different patients.
The Conclusion
With this said, it is easy to see how this form of therapy is not only related to the physical aspect, since some of the main instruments of healing are targeted at bettering the patient's self-esteem as well as self-worth – first, and physique second. The treatment will lead to a heightened sense of self-awareness and will help the patient prevent any type of related disorder from ever happening again, instead of just healing him once.
This will also consequentially lead to an increased level of the patient's self-acceptance, which will in turn motivate the patient to treat his or her body better from then on.
CBT is also useful when it comes to treating other emotions such as loneliness, anger, boredom and stress.
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