How CBT helps to Improve our Mood-A deeper look

CBT is a highly effective, evidence-based treatment for depression. It is based on the rationale, that our thoughts, feelings and behaviours are all interconnected and that by changing unhelpful thoughts or behaviours, we can change our emotions.

Thinking-Feeling Connection

Everyday our mind is flooded with thousands and thousands of automatic thoughts, ranging from benign or neutral thoughts about mundane tasks to deeper thoughts about ourself, the world and others. When experiencing strong emotions, such as sadness or despair, our mind tends to be more biased in producing Negative Automatic Thoughts (NATs) ‘I am such a failure’; ‘No matter how hard I try, it will not work.

We are essentially navigating our day with a ‘glass half empty’ outlook.

Behaviour-Feeling Connection

In addition to having an influence on our thoughts, our feelings can also have an impact on our behaviours. When feeling down, many of us withdraw from activities, friends and loved ones and/or find it difficult to engage in everyday tasks that once brought us enjoyment and meaning. The more we withdraw and feel isolated, the more stuck we feel and the less opportunity we have for our mood to change.

Here is a brief overview of how it works

The Power of the Reframe:

CBT aims to help you identify your negative automatic thoughts NATs, examine and challenge them.

You will learn to track your thoughts and evaluate them with a number of questions like:

• What went through my mind?
• What did that say about me?
• Is this thought based on fact? What is the evidence to support it?
• What is the evidence to challenge this thought?
• What advice would I give a friend with this thought?

Build Coping Strategies

CBT will also help you develop better ways to cope with strong feelings, and challenging situations by teaching you a number of strategies like:

• Activity schedule using graded exposure: you will learn to break tasks into small and manageable steps, making it easier to resume activities that you once enjoyed.
• Relaxation Techniques
• Mindfulness Practices
• Problem solving skills
• Assertiveness Training

These are just a few examples. You are not meant to know how to change these patterns on your own-you are not meant to fully understand the scope of your thoughts and how powerful they can be.

Sometimes all we know is that we are struggling and need to work through what can feel like internal chaos. You are not alone. Therapy can be a safe space to gain the awareness you need to make changes that can be most helpful to get you back on track.