You should expect to get accurate and clear information about the cognitive behavioral therapy approach in your first appointment. This information will help you develop an accurate and clear understanding of CBT so that you can decide whether or not to receive your treatment here.
If you decide to receive your treatment here, you will be actively involved in therapy, from setting goals to designing interventions or homework assignments, to evaluating the outcomes. CBT creates a truly collaborative relationship between therapist and patient. The therapist does not dictate the therapeutic process and has no hidden agenda. The clarity of expectations, both knowing what to expect and what is expected from you, helps foster collaboration.
CBT is time limited, requiring usually 8 to 24 sessions. In addition, CBT is problem-focused and results-oriented. You and your therapist together design homework tasks to facilitate change. This homework, which is relevant to your therapeutic goals, simple, and clear to implement, achieves the following goals:
- Provides you and your therapist with the data needed not only to better understand the complexities involved in your situation but to come up with effective interventions to help resolve your problems.
- Engages you in the process of your therapy and allows you to assume ownership of changes in your life.
- Allows you and your therapist to form a collaborative relationship.
- Helps you to generalize the learning from therapy sessions to the outside world.
- Helps you to internalize the acquired changes and promotes their longevity.