Chicago Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) Therapist
Searching for a cognitive behavioral therapist (CBT) in Chicago? Need a therapist who practices CBT to help you work through anxious, unproductive thoughts? Did someone suggest CBT to you because it helped them with mood swings?
If so, you aren’t alone. One of the main reasons people contact our Chicago Behavioral Therapy specialists is to assist them with anxiety, depression, health anxiety, and feelings of panic.
Most of the clients we work with seeking CBT live in a nearby Chicago neighborhood, such as Lakeview, Uptown, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Andersonville, Gold Coast. and The Loop.
This page is designed to help you better understand what Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is and how it is used to help people just like yourself.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
At its core, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, often referred to as CBT, is a form of mental health counseling that was created by Dr. Aaron Beck, an American psychiatrist who spent years helping people create change around negative thinking.
This type of therapy is considered evidence-based, meaning it has been scientifically researched to treat various mental health problems that are common among many people.
How CBT Helps
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) considered a highly effective therapeutic approach to counseling that helps people just like you address and manage a wide range of mental health challenges. One of the major ways in which CBT assists is by teaching you new coping skills. Through CBT, individuals learn to identify and challenge distorted thought patterns, which often contribute to feelings of anxiety, depression, panic and fear (see our page on therapy for anxiety in Chicago).
By developing these skills and leaning into tools, CBT empowers individuals to reframe negative thinking and replace it with more constructive, rational thought processes. This shift in thinking can lead to reduced emotional distress and enhanced problem-solving abilities. In turn, you may be able to tackle your life challenges more effectively.
One of the main benefits of CBT is the promotion of healthy behaviors by equipping Chicagoans with the tools to modify their responses to challenging situations. Examples include being able to identify triggers and formulating strategies in real time to address them. In this way, you can break the cycle of unhealthy behaviors that worsen your mental health.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Changed My Negative Thoughts
-Chris in Roscoe Village
CBT Can Help With:
- General Anxiety
- Self-Esteem
- Depression
- Phobias and fears
- Stress management
- Life transitions
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Intrusive thoughts
- Ruminating thoughts
- Social Anxiety
- Becoming unstuck
- Negative thinking
- Work burnout
- Problems with motivation
- Procrastination
- Grief and Loss
- Trauma and traumatic events
- Self-esteem and self-concept
Here’s some more information about how Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help with some of the mental health issues mentioned above:
Depression
- CBT assists individuals in identifying negative thought patterns that contribute to feelings of hopelessness and sadness.
- It helps challenge and reframe distorted thoughts, replacing them with more realistic and positive ones.
- CBT focuses on behavior activation, encouraging individuals to engage in pleasurable activities and gradually increase their involvement in meaningful tasks.
- It teaches coping skills to manage depressive symptoms and prevent relapse.
Anxiety disorders
- CBT helps individuals identify and challenge anxious thoughts and beliefs that lead to excessive worry and fear.
- It utilizes techniques such as cognitive restructuring to replace catastrophic thinking with more balanced and rational thoughts.
- CBT teaches relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation, to manage physical symptoms of anxiety.
- Exposure therapy is often used in CBT to gradually expose individuals to feared situations, helping them confront and overcome their anxieties.
Phobias
- CBT helps individuals understand the irrationality of their phobic fears and beliefs.
- It involves gradual exposure to the feared object or situation, helping individuals build confidence and reduce avoidance behaviors.
- CBT incorporates techniques like cognitive restructuring to challenge distorted thoughts related to the phobia.
- It equips individuals with coping strategies to manage anxiety during exposure and empowers them to face their phobias directly.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- CBT focuses on processing traumatic experiences and addressing the associated symptoms.
- It helps individuals understand and modify distorted thoughts and beliefs related to the trauma.
- CBT employs techniques like imaginal exposure to safely revisit the traumatic event and process emotions.
- It teaches coping skills, such as grounding techniques and relaxation exercises, to manage anxiety and distress.
These are just a few examples of how CBT can be beneficial for different mental health issues. It’s worth noting that CBT is a flexible approach that can be tailored to individual needs, and the specific techniques used may vary based on the therapist’s expertise and the client’s circumstances.
Our Chicago Cognitive Behavioral Therapists can help.
What Are The Different CBT Therapies?
A lot of Chicagoans ask us what are the different types of cognitive behavioral therapy? While the field is evolving, there are currently around nine.
1. Cognitive therapy: This form of therapy is designed to address negative thinking by challenging negative thoughts and creating new cognitions.
2. Behavior therapy: A kind of counseling used to create change around unwanted behaviors. If you isolate because of social anxiety, behavior therapy pulls leans into techniques like exposure therapies to bring about the desired change.
3. Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Sometimes referred to as DBT, this form of therapy is used as a tool to help you get distance from your thoughts and stop emotional outbursts and impulsive reactions.
4. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy: Called “FAP” for short, this kind of therapy is a third-wave CBT approach that infuses concepts of mindfulness while helping you generate greater self-love and self-acceptance.
5. Cognitive Processing Therapy: Sometimes referred to as CPT, this therapeutic approach is all about working through previous life traumas and dialing down feelings of fear, anxiety, shame, and panic. Schema therapy would be part of CPT.
6. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: If you are trying to keep your thoughts in the here and now and avoid overthinking that sends you into a negative spiral, this kind of counseling may be super helpful. MBCBT is the acronym for this kind of counseling. If you have ever engaged in focused meditation to reduce anxiety, you were leaning into a form of MBCBT.
7. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Referred to as “ACT”, this kind of therapy is all about accepting your emotions, so they have less power over you. Values identification, goal setting, and accountability are part of the experience. This one is great for reducing anxiety and taking personal responsibility for your actions (or inactions).
8. Compassion-Informed Therapy: Sometimes referred to as “CIP”, this kind of counseling helps you to work through feelings of deep shame, which may be damaging your self-esteem. If you struggle with an inner critic, CIP can help you change several faulty assumptions about yourself and transform these thoughts into something more positive.
9. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: You may know this as simply “CBT”. Many consider this the big daddy of the different typologies because it is the most well-known. Like the name sounds, CBT is a combination of cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy. It is commonly used to treat anxiety and other mood disorders.
CBT Gave Me Tools To Change Negative Thinking
– Crystal in Lakeview, Chicago
How CBT Therapy Happens
You may be wondering how our Chicago Cognitive Behavior Therapists set up sessions? For example, are they structured? The answer is yes:
- The general flow of sessions is as follows:
- Basic CBT orientation.
- Discuss where your challenges exist.
- Set goals for CBT therapy and rank them in the order of importance that is most important to you.
- Collaboratively doing the work on each goal.
- Engaging in homework assignments that are designed to reinforce concepts from each session.
- Assess progress towards identified goals.
Cognitive Distortions Explored
When you see one of our Chicago Cognitive Behavioral Therapists, there is a good chance you are going to learn about a variety of cognitive distortions.
In a nutshell, cognitive distortions are patterns of thinking that can lead to anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and fear. In therapy, the goal is to help you better understand your distortions so that you can create positive change.
Examples of cognitive distortions in CBT
- All of nothing thinking: If you struggle with seeing the grey areas, this one may apply. Example: You want to clean your bathroom but don’t have time to do it perfectly. Therefore, it doesn’t get done.
- Overgeneralizing: This is where you take one nugget of information and make faulty assumptions as a result. An example might be earning a C on a test and telling yourself that you are “Stupid” because you didn’t earn an A.
- Mental Filter: If you filter out the positive and focus only on the negative, you are putting on a mental filter.
- Fortune Telling: If you are predicting your future based on anecdotal information, you are engaging in a distortion. An example might be telling yourself you will never find someone to date because you aren’t having much luck right now.
- Catastrophizing: This is when your mind can only see the worst possible outcome. An example might be your boss not inviting you to a random meeting. In your mind, you start to think your boss doesn’t like you and has plans to let you go.
- Personalizing: This is when you blame yourself for events that have nothing to do with you. An example might be a coworker being in a bad mood. You automatically assume the cause relates to something you did.
CBT Counseling Helped Me To See My Distortions
-Amy in Lincoln Park
What Can I Expect in CBT Therapy?
Entering CBT therapy can be an important step in your journey to better mental health. It’s natural to have questions and uncertainties about what to expect when starting counseling. Here is are some important aspects about this form of therapy you need to know:
- CBT is collaborative in nature, meaning you and your therapist work together to address the challenges you face.
- Setting goals will be an important part of the work. Acting in tandem, you and your counselor will identify realistic goals and move about the business of creating a plan of action.
- Tracking progress towards goal attainment is a major part of the process. To help you reach these goals, you will learn new skills and be introduced to various tools as part of the dynamic.
- Homework is often given after each session with CBT to help reinforce concepts explored during the session.
- Mindfulness is often part of the therapeutic experience, meaning a large focus is placed on the here and now.
- Changing automatic negative thoughts to something more balanced (and healthy) will likely be something to reflect on through reframing.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapists In Chicago
Our CBT therapists in Chicago are probably closer to your location than you think. While our main offices are in the Lakeview/Wrigleyville area of the city, virtual sessions can happen wherever you might be.
If you have anxiety, insomnia, depression, trauma, OCD, fears, or phobias, our Chicago cognitive behavioral therapists want to help you.
Making an appointment is simple. Just reach out using our confidential contact form here. You can also call 773.234-1350.
If you need a CBT Therapist in Chicago, the Calm Anxiety Clinic wants to work with you!