This form of psychotherapy modifies unhealthy ways of thinking to bring positive change. University of Pennsylvania psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck, M.D. developed the basic model for cognitive therapy in the early 1970s after observing students and colleagues undergo classic Freudian analysis for six or seven years, with no striking improvement. With managed care scrutinizing the cost and effectiveness of treatment, cognitive therapy has gained popularity. Your mental health benefits may cover it if you're diagnosed with depression or anxiety and referred to a trained cognitive therapist. How cognitive therapy works Cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy are closely related.
Cognitive therapists believe thoughts, rather than actions, are what affect feelings most.
Behavioral therapists try to help people change behavior, theorizing that feelings come from actions. Melinda A. Stanley, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, uses a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapies, called cognitive behavioral therapy. When we work with patients to help them change the way they feel, we focus on thoughts and behaviors creating those feelings. People do have losses, and fearful things happen in their lives. We try to help patients be more objective, and to treat their thoughts as hypotheses and decide if they're really true.