Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
What is cognitive behavioral therapy?
Cognitive behavioral therapy or "CBT' refers to a broad groups of psychotherapies that focus on how thoughts and behaviors contribute to difficulties a person experiences. The focus of CBT is on challenging these thoughts and behaviors in a collaborative, goal-focused manner. Because CBT is such a broad group of therapies, the way it is implemented can vary a lot from provider to provider, but this approach generally has a focus on how the current thoughts and behaviors a person experiences contribute to psychological difficulties. Over the past three decades or so, CBT has become the most scientifically tested approach to therapy, and it is has the strongest evidence in the treatment of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders in children and adults.
Does CBT work for people with anxiety disorders?
Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most well-studied group of therapies for people with anxiety disorders, OCD, and misophonia, and has the strongest evidence of any of these therapies.
For both children and adults with anxiety disorders, about one half are in "remission" from their anxiety after treatment, or their anxiety gets to a point where it is no longer causing them major distress or impacting their lives day-to-day. For others, therapy can still be immensely beneficial, though it may be a longer or ongoing process. A specific form of CBT, exposure and response prevention or "ERP", is the treatment of choice for children and adults with OCD, and it is extremely effective as well.
Does CBT work for people with misophonia?
For individuals with misophonia, the research is less clear as there have been very few treatment studies of any kind, though CBT is the most well-tested therapy to date, and experts as well as advocates often recommend CBT due to its benefits in many related conditions and potential to provide practical, effective strategies to bolster coping. In my practice, I draw from CBT strategies for related problems and work together with clients to identify strategies that will be most helpful for them.
My approach to cognitive behavioral therapy
Personalized based on your specific assessment. Assessment is an ongoing process in therapy, and based on what we believe are the primary drivers of your anxiety, OCD, or other psychological difficulties, I will personalize strategies and techniques to you on an individual level. I draw exercises and techniques from different CBT approaches that I believe will be most effective for each individual.
Focused on change. My focus primarily centers on "approach-oriented coping," or active steps people can take to directly address the challenges they face, as well as establishing new effective habits. Although avoiding triggers for anxiety helps us feel less anxious in the short-term, in many situations avoidance perpetuates anxiety long-term. Because of this, I believe the most important thing I can do for most people with anxiety disorders is to help them learn to face their fears. For people with misophonia, we focus on identifying ways misophonia is impacting day-to-day life, and identify new coping strategies to ensure the impact of sound sensitivity is minimized.
Collaborative. Therapy is a partnership. My goal is to take a "guiding" style that emphasizes both your values, beliefs, culture, and unique life circumstances, as well as my experience and perspective.