CBT is a widely researched, evidence based form of therapy. Its premise is simple: We are what we think. It is our thoughts and our beliefs that evoke our emotions and determine our behavior. Change your thoughts, and your emotions and behavior will follow. The difficulty, however, lies in “questioning reality.” We have been living with the same beliefs for so long, we accept them as absolute fact. “I cannot find a satisfying romantic relationship” for example, can be a core belief, arising from earlier experience that is repeated like a mantra, without someone even realizing it. Then he or she wonders why Ms. or Mr. Right never shows up. It is precisely “believing everything you think” that keeps us going around in the same circles; proving again and again to ourselves the validity of our beliefs while excluding opportunities to experience something different.
CBT is designed to help you:
1) identify your thoughts and beliefs
2) without judgment evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of those thoughts
3) design new thoughts and beliefs
4) experiment, explore, and challenge those beliefs
5) based on your experimentation, decide what thoughts and beliefs deserve your attention
6) Employing the new beliefs, experience better emotional states and behaviors that manifest who you want to be and how you want to live.
Although CBT sessions are often held without the use of hypnosis, hypnotherapy can greatly enhance the acquisition and “installment” of new beliefs. These two approaches can easily be integrated, with specific tools and “homework” are provided to accelerate change.
CBT can help with depression, anxiety, habits and addictive behaviors, and other issues.