Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) Seattle
Seattle CBT Therapists
The experienced therapists at Anchor Light Therapy will join you in your journey to discover, process, and heal in a safe and compassionate environment. Our clinicians believe change happens through building a relationship with their clients based on trust and collaboration.
What is CBT Therapy?
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) helps create change by focusing on the link between our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions.
We Are Not Our Thoughts
CBT helps point out that we are not our thoughts. We can run into trouble when we act as if our thoughts are all true. Thoughts can influence behaviors and emotions and behaviors can powerfully affect how we think and feel. It’s a vicious cycle!
Thought → Behavior → Emotion
CBT helps us look at patterns in the present as opposed to focusing primarily on our personal history. Together, you and your CBT therapist at Anchor Light Therapy Collective will investigate this together. We will explore detailed thought-behavior-emotion patterns, and experimenting with new ways of thinking and acting.
Forward Action
An essential element to CBT is forward action — engaging in new behavior both in in order to create a pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions that truly serves one’s values and goals. Clients will begin practicing tools learned with your therapist between sessions (aka the real world).
With CBT, you can successfully manage symptoms independently over time. As a result, this approach is very active and typically successful either alone or in conjunction with other therapies.
History of CBT
CBT was first developed in the 1960s by a psychiatrist named Aaron T. Beck, who formulated the idea for the therapy after noticing that many of his patients had internal dialogues that were almost a form of them talking to themselves. He also observed that his patients’ thoughts often impacted their feelings, and he called these emotionally-loaded thoughts “automatic thoughts.” Martin also explains that Beck originally named CBT “cognitive therapy,” because it focuses on each patient’s thought process.
What can CBT help with?
- Some Anxiety disorders
- Eating disorders – such as anorexia and bulimia
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Sleep problems – such as insomnia
- Problems related to alcohol misuse
- Work and relationship issues
Benefits of CBT
- Learn examine and challenge unhelpful thought patterns.
- Learn how to think about situations and stressful events in more helpful ways.
- Gain behavioral strategies to change unhelpful behavior patterns
- Gain Relaxation strategies
Frequently Asked Questions
What is involved in CBT therapy?
CBT Therapy involves challenging your thoughts, identifying your emotions and linking them to maladaptive behaviors that may result. Over time, this will elicit changed behaviors.
What is CBT not good for?
- Psychosis and/or extreme paranoid disorders related disorders like schizophrenia
- While it could be a good complement, we do not recommend CBT alone for trauma/ptsd/acute stress disorders
- Social anxiety
- Personality disorders
- Panic Disorders
- Grief
Can you do CBT on yourself?
The skills learned in CBT therapy are yours. You will be able to use these outside of session which is always the goal – we do not want you to be in therapy forever!
How long does it take for cognitive behavioral therapy to work?
To create changed behaviors and meet goals, we recommend at least 12 sessions of CBT Therapy.
CBT Therapy Pricing
Therapy creates a space for you to experience healing and progress in a way that can change your life. But of course, it’s also an investment of both time and finances. When you’re ready to commit to healing and transformation, here is what you can expect.
Standard individual session
(50 minutes) $190
Insurance
We do not participate with any insurance panels. Anchor Light Therapy Collective is considered an out-of-network provider.
As a courtesy to any individual clients who wish to utilize their insurance benefits, We are happy to verify your out-of-network plan benefits to tell you what portion, if any, may be covered by your health insurance provider.