Cognitive & Behavioural
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as an Integration within the ShiftGrit Core Method™
Overview
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a structured, time-limited, goal-oriented form of psychotherapy based on the premise that thoughts, emotions, and behaviours are interconnected, and that distorted or unhelpful thinking patterns contribute to psychological distress. It is typically delivered as a collaborative, present-focused treatment over a defined number of sessions, often with between-session homework.
How it works
Treatment works by helping clients identify and examine automatic thoughts and underlying beliefs, then test and modify those that are inaccurate or maladaptive through techniques such as cognitive restructuring, guided questioning, and behavioural experiments. It also incorporates behavioural methods, including graded exposure, activity scheduling, and skills training, so that changes in thinking and behaviour reinforce one another to reduce symptoms.
What it is used for
CBT is used and studied for a broad range of conditions, including depression, anxiety disorders, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and insomnia. It is also applied as an adjunct in serious mental illness such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and for psychological aspects of medical conditions including chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic fatigue.
Origins and evidence base
CBT was developed primarily by psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s and 1970s, drawing on his cognitive model of depression, alongside Albert Ellis's rational emotive behaviour therapy and the earlier behavioural therapy tradition. It is among the most extensively researched psychotherapies, supported by thousands of randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses, and is recommended in numerous clinical practice guidelines as an evidence-based treatment for many disorders.
Within the ShiftGrit Core Method™
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy gives you practical tools for working with your thinking, such as tracking thoughts and reframing them as they come up. One thing to keep in mind is that CBT tends to work with the thoughts you can already notice, while the limiting belief underneath a pattern often sits quieter and further down. The way our clinicians tend to think about it, CBT works at the surface level of conscious thoughts, and the ShiftGrit Core Method™ is built to read further below that surface: Pattern Theory™ to understand what a pattern may be protecting, reconditioning that is designed to ease the charge on the belief sitting underneath it, and the sequencing that holds those parts together. We see the two as complementary rather than ranked. CBT is an evidence-based approach a clinician may draw on alongside the evidence-informed Core Method, and our clinicians often bring it in after reconditioning, once the older belief carries less of its former charge and a newer outlook is taking shape. Used this way, CBT can help steady that fresh interpretation and tidy up leftover thinking habits, working with the day-to-day thoughts it is well suited to rather than carrying the deeper work on its own.
Illustrative example
Picture someone whose pattern was bound up with the belief "I am at risk," who has worked through reconditioning so that belief carries less of its old charge. In a later session, a clinician may bring in a CBT thought record so the person can catch a leftover worried thought, such as reading a routine email as a sign of trouble, and weigh it against what is actually in front of them. The reconditioning is designed to ease the deeper layer, and CBT can help keep an old thinking habit from quietly drawing over the newer outlook.
Based on: Hofmann, S. G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I. J. J., Sawyer, A. T., & Fang, A. (2012). The Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Review of Meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(5), 427-440. [source]
Clinicians who integrate Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
If Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is specifically what you are looking for, tell us during matching and we will pair you with a clinician who carries that training. See how we integrate evidence-based modalities within the ShiftGrit Core Method™.
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Find Your PatternTrusted by Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations Across Canada
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Trusted By Alberta’s Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Alberta and Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Regulated and affiliated across Alberta’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
Regulated and affiliated across Canada’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
The descriptions and examples on this page are provided for general educational and illustrative purposes only. They explain how this approach may be integrated within the ShiftGrit Core Method™ and do not describe a specific client, represent a testimonial, or promise any particular result. Integrated modalities are offered at the discretion of individual clinicians, and whether any approach is appropriate for you is determined together with your clinician, within their professional judgement and scope of practice.
