Cognitive behavioural therapy is a form of psychotherapy that aims to help individuals change how they think and act. This approach holds that change in how one feels follows from first altering perception and behaviour. In this therapeutic modality, the therapist frequently focuses attention to your thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes (that is, your cognitive processes) and how these interact with your behaviour to create your emotional problems. Unlike other forms of psychotherapy, CBT focuses primarily on the problems and difficulties in the present, and on practical steps to alter them. Unconscious motivations as well as personal and childhood histories may or may not be subjects of consideration. CBT commonly employs “homework” or writing assignments, and is likely to focus explicitly on goals and treatment outcomes. Consciously undertaken shifts in behaviours are generally a necessary extension of the therapy hour.

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