What is Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)?
Cognitive Behavior Therapy is a treatment for OCD that uses two behavior-altering techniques—Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP) and Cognitive Therapy. This treatment is conducted by a cognitive behavior therapist who has special training in treating OCD. In ERP therapy, the person who has OCD is placed in situations where he or she is exposed to the obsessions that they have, and they are gradually prevented from performing the compulsions they use to temporarily ease their fears. For example, if you have an obsessive fear of germs in public places, your therapist may encourage you to touch a doorknob that you believe is dirty, then wait longer and longer to wash your hands. This gradual exposure and delayed response would help you learn to control the response. While at first you would feel very upset—maybe even feel panic because of touching the doorknob—over time, you would learn to respond differently to the fear or thoughts about germs. This new way of confronting your
Cognitive Behavior Therapy is a short-term therapy focused on identifying and altering the situations, thoughts and behaviors that are causing symptoms. CBT has been proven effective in the treatment of Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorder, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and many other symptoms and disorders. CBT has also been proven effective in the treatment of insomnia and other sleep disorders. In fact, CBT is the treatment of choice–preferable to medication–for sleep disorders. CBT can be conducted in individual or group psychotherapy.
