that negatively impact our thoughts,  emotions, behavior, and physical reactions.

Once we learn how to identify what situations  bring upon such destructive thoughts,  

we can practice developing new interpretations  that will then change our pattern of reaction.

The therapy is widely used to help people with  phobias, depression, anxieties, or addictions.

To show how it works, let's look at Lily,  

a teenage girl who hates going to school due  to her fear of being judged and humiliated.

In her first session, the therapist tries to  build trust and explains how CBT functions  

since the better Lily understands the process, the  more likely it is that the therapy is effective.  

The therapist also illustrates how our  brain, in specific situations, follows  

a fixed path of reason — which gets stronger  after years of having the same thought process.

Many of our destructive behaviors are  based on false core beliefs — thoughts  

that objectively don't make sense. We  acquired these false beliefs when we  

were too young to interpret others  correctly. Throughout the therapy,  

Lily will try to unlearn these false beliefs  and create new mental pathways that will  

replace the false beliefs she holds of  herself with more realistic thoughts.

Once Lily understands the process,  the counselor begins to ask questions  

following the Socratic method, a form  of argumentative conversation that  

stimulates critical thinking to draw out  false ideas and underlying assumptions.

“Would you like to tell me why you  are here today?” Starts the therapist. 

“Because I think I'm not normal,” Lily responds. Therapist1: You appear perfectly normal to me,  

can you be more specific? Lily1: I think I'm afraid of people. 

Therapist2: So, you are afraid of me? Lily2: No 

Therapist3: Do you feel socially insecure? Lily3: I'm not sure what you mean. 

Therapist4: Tell me how you feel about school. Lily4: I'm scared of going because they  

think I'm stupid.

Throughout the interview, the counselor takes  notes of Lily's answers and identifies the  

signs of social anxiety based on a false  core belief - Lily believes she is stupid.

For homework, Lily should practice introspection.  The goal: to find out which situations trigger her  

negative thoughts. She gets a learning  journal to keep record of all triggers  

and other observations, such as self-talk or  interpretations of particular events and people.

During the following week, Lily becomes more aware  of her thoughts and the physical reactions they  

trigger. By paying attention to her feelings,  she identifies a specific pattern which occurs  

every time during math class. The moment her  teacher begins to ask questions her heart  

starts racing and her palms get sweaty - she  worries about having to answer the question,  

about making a mistake, about looking  dumb in front of all the others.

In her second session, Lily shares her  observations and the therapist helps her  

realize that her cognitive-behavioral patterns  are false. First, her math grades are great,  

so she should feel anything but stupid.  Second, she explains that there are  

always more interpretations to the same thing.  What to her may look like her "stupid" face,  

to others she may just look unhappy about having  to answer. The reason she is afraid of what people  

think is a form of social anxiety — a completely  irrational cognitive behavioral response.[5.7]

As the sessions continue, the therapist  suggests three practical strategies: 

Through Journaling, Lily records her negative  beliefs and reformulates them into positive  

ones she can replace them with. Constructive Self-talk, helps her  

to replace a critical voice with a positive one. And she starts exposure exercises, which means  

Lilly deliberately puts herself in situations  where she becomes the center of attention.

Along the way, the two set goals that  are specific, measurable, achievable,  

realistic, and time-based. SMART goals  give her control over how she progresses  

thus helping her to gain confidence in herself.

Over time and with a lot of practise, her brain  builds new neural pathways that lead to different,  

more neutral reactions to the  same old triggers. And one day,  

Lily may even enjoy the thrill of speaking  in front of her class. Her interpretation  

of the situation is more realistic and  more aligned with those of the others.

CBT was initially developed in 1964 by Aaron  Temkin Beck. Beck hypothesised that people's  

feelings are determined by the way they interpret  situations, rather than by the situations per se.  

About depression he once said: “If our thinking  is bogged down by distorted symbolic meanings,  

illogical reasoning and erroneous interpretations,  we become, in truth, blind and deaf”.

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