Cognitive therapy

Cognitive therapy has broad evidence through a number of studies regarding the treatment effect of disorders such as anxiety, depression, stress management, sleep difficulties, sexual problems, eating disorders, anger management, obsessive thoughts etc.

Cognitive therapy increases awareness of the interaction between situations, thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Through increased awareness of this, you can learn to "not let yourself be controlled" by automatic thoughts and feelings, but rather feel that you can "choose" what to think in difficult situations, and what you want to do.

Cognitive therapy is a form of treatment that suits most people. It is based on common sense and reflection - put into a system. The method can be applied to most situations we come across, such as cohabitation problems, stress at work, perceived failure in coping - to more pervasive difficulties with anxiety, depression, self-image, substance abuse, etc.

Cognitive therapy is based on cooperation. Together we find out a prioritized list of difficulties to be attacked and find the situations that are typically linked to these. Reviewing such situations reveals typical thoughts you have in these situations, which emotions it sets in motion, and what you do to master them. You will discover that you can choose how to behave more flexibly and appropriately, and reduce psychological discomfort.

Important concepts

In cognitive therapy, you often talk about certain concepts that it is good to know something about.

We talk about automatic thoughts. These are thoughts that you typically have in certain situations, because you have experienced certain things in such situations in the past. This activates typical thoughts that have to do with the situation, and these thoughts are automatic in the sense that they occur without us having to think about them. They are often quick, and often negative. We therefore often talk about negative automatic thoughts. Because they are negative, we do not want to have them up for conscious assessment, and we therefore often take them for good fish - we assume they are true without questioning this. Typically, they can make a fool of themselves, that one is of little worth, that one assumes that things will go wrong, that one will not succeed, etc.

We often talk about it cognitive diamond. This is a description of four components – thoughts, feelings, bodily symptoms and behaviour. The diamond is the description of an imaginary line between these four components, which shows the interaction between them. Everything is connected to everything and is influenced by each other. Changing thoughts will affect feelings, body and behaviour. Changes in the body will affect feelings, thoughts and behaviour. Change in behavior can affect what we think, emotions and body - etc.

Case formulation. This is typically a survey of how relevant childhood experiences have affected our self-image, what thoughts we have had about ourselves and the world, our attitudes and what coping strategies we have worked out. Through this kind of awareness, we see more clearly why we get the thoughts we do, and react the way we do in certain situations.

Homework. It is normal that we want to practice new behaviour. As in sports, we think that we always get better through training. In the therapy sessions, we find out what we need to practice, and then a plan is made for how this can take place. You won't be asked to practice something you don't want to take part in yourself. Cognitive therapy is treatment through collaboration! Other times homework is used to find out connections - we experiment. What happens if I do this? Was it as I expected?

Typical problem areas

Cognitive therapy is often used for the following psychological challenges:

Anxiety. Including social anxiety, excessive fear of making a fool of yourself. Generalized anxiety, free-flowing, exaggerated worries. Health anxiety, obsessions and compulsive behaviour, phobias and panic attacks.

Depression. Works best in mild to moderate conditions. Different degrees of depression.

Sexual difficulties. Performance anxiety.

Cohabitation problems. Jealousy, difficulty communicating thoughts and feelings.

Stress. Performance pressure at school or work. Excessive sense of responsibility

Aggression.

Drug problems.

Hanne Storvik is a certified cognitive therapist through the Norwegian Association for Cognitive Therapy. She works with this form of treatment daily in her work with clients, and has several years of experience. Hanne is starting a two-year supervisor's education in cognitive therapy, which means that she will be able to train others in the method.

Sten-Rune is a trained cognitive therapist through the Norwegian Association for Cognitive Therapy (NFKT). In addition, he is a specialist in clinical psychology. Sten-Rune has extensive experience with cognitive therapy, and has held courses in stress management, conflict management and substance abuse, among other things. Sten-Rune is an approved supervisor in cognitive therapy, and trains other doctors and psychologists in the method. In addition, he holds courses for NFKT in connection with the education in the method.

Lars Fodstad is also a trained cognitive therapist through NFKT in addition to being a specialist in psychology. He has extensive experience with most mental disorders and often uses cognitive therapy as a method.