Working with Emotions in CBT
Foundational CBTYou know, the whole reason we come into the field is to make people feel better, relieve suffering, and enhance positive affect. Emotions are a very natural part of living. It would be very pathological if we didn't have emotions. I've never had a patient come into therapy saying my emotions are wonderful, but I have a few irrational thoughts. People come in because they're struggling with their emotions.
They're struggling with finding meaning that's worth living for. It's about finding that pain, that that trouble that your client is experiencing and is bringing to you, getting them to talk about it, acknowledging it, recognizing it, and finding out how they're thinking about it and how their thoughts about it are contributing to their pain. And when you do that, right away, you're starting to link their thoughts to their emotions. Most of the things we think it's non-psychotic disorders, depression, anxiety, etcetera, key route emotions.
We've always said in cognitive therapy dating back as long as I've been around it. That the emotions of the world wrote to the cognitions. Emotions are something that nature gave you. And it's important to understand not to eradicate those feelings, but to give you the ability to manage them better. Sometimes if you deal with emotions, then the cognitions just follow.
I really believe our emotions serve a purpose, and they cannot be ignored nor do we want to medicate them away or even therapize them away. We really want people to be able to feel comfortable with whatever emotion they're having. And I think CBT uniquely does that.