Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a category of talk therapy that teaches you how to understand the logic behind your thoughts and behaviors and then gives you concrete tools for coping with your feelings. For example, let’s say you feel stuck and unsatisfied in your career but never seem to make a change. CBT might help you uncover thoughts (that you are likely to fail if you try to pursue your dream career), which influence your behaviors (avoiding taking steps like networking or learning new skills), which ultimately results in your feelings (hopelessness). CBT helps you think rationally instead of emotionally, so you can conclude that there isn’t really good evidence that you will fail. With this logic in mind, your CBT therapist will help you set specific goals, break down your patterns, and give you tasks to complete each week, resulting in demonstrable progress.

As part of our services, we offer three forms of CBT:

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DPT) is helpful for people with very strong emotional responses such as those diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. It focuses specifically on managing intense distress, especially interpersonal relationships, and includes practicing mindfulness.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) teaches you to accept the existence of your negative feelings and to commit to taking actions that align with your values and help you make positive changes.

Exposure Therapy (including Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy), can be extremely effective for people with specific phobias. Let’s say you are terribly afraid of spiders. Your therapist might first have you imagine a spider, then look at a picture of a spider, then be in the same room as a spider, and so on. It is a highly controlled, safe way of facing your fears. Virtual Reality can be especially helpful for people with post-traumatic stress disorder who have developed phobias based on traumatic events. It enables you to experience safe re-exposure to the traumatic environment so that you can process your trauma and begin to heal.