Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Family Therapy
Irrational Beliefs as Invitations for Change

What You Will Learn

This workshop will provide a general introduction to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), one of the most widely known and widely practiced therapies designed for symptom reduction by experts like Ellis, Beck, Watson, and Skinner. It’s often a top choice for managed care companies because of its efficiency and how its implementation keeps session use to a minimum.

CBT practitioners believe that changing thought patterns results in long-lasting emotional, behavioral, and cognitive changes. It is a highly effective tool for resolving negative self-talk that may support ineffective, inappropriate, and even dangerous behavior.

CBT is a great skill set for any practitioner’s toolkit because it can effectively treat conditions like depression, anxiety, panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and more.

Workshop Abstract

The 21st century human remains tethered cognitively to its ancient ancestor in some remarkable ways. The negativity bias and the obsession with judgmental awareness of self and others have lingered beyond their once-evolutionary benefits. It was once much more important to remember danger than bliss, and it was a matter of survival to know where one stood in relation to peer competitors in the pack.

What was once a key reason for the evolutionary success of the species has now become a major contributor to mental and physical distress in our time. Irrational thoughts and beliefs that arise in the awareness of individuals play out in their patterns of relation to themselves, their partners, their families, and their relationship to their world.

Supporting a more effective and empowered relationship with these evolutionary leftovers in an integrated brief treatment approach is perfectly fit to the 21st century human context. The key to this approach is dropping the adversarial position of one vs one’s thoughts, and actually seeing irrational beliefs as ‘baked into’ the human condition – herein lies the doorway to change.

For complete details please see our brochure.