CBT

Treating depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses often involves medication; however, another key component to treatment is something called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I think I've been focusing too much on whether or not my medication cocktail is working, and have neglected CBT.

CBT is exactly as the name suggests: changing the way one thinks and behaves from negative and harmful to positive, healthy, and life affirming.

For depression and anxiety, the cognitive component entails things like:

• identifying and monitoring automatic, distorted thinking
• thought stopping
• thought replacement
• positive affirmations

The behavioral component entails things like:

• healthy eating
• exercising
• getting adequate sleep each night
• practicing new, healthy coping skills

For more information about CBT, checkout the following:

Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)

Well, CBT is going to be my focus for the month of July. I'll let you know how it goes.