Mindfulness Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy & Paradoxical Strategic Approach

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the first line, evidence-based treatment for anxiety disorders. In essence, CBT works effectively by combining 2 forms of treatment:

Behavior Therapy helps to weaken the connections between troublesome situations and your habitual reactions to them. Such reactions as fear, depression, or anger are self-defeating behaviors that cloud your ability to think logically and inhibit your capacity to resolve the situation healthily. It teaches you how to calm your mind and body, so you can feel better, think more clearly, make better decisions, and approach the problem situation with more adaptive skills.

Cognitive Therapy teaches how certain maladaptive thinking patterns cause the difficulties or symptoms. These maladaptive thinking patterns are habitual misperceived thoughts that occur automatically and create a distorted picture of what’s going on in the problem situation. Because they transpire so automatically, the distorted thoughts often occur outside of your awareness resulting in negative emotions and actions. Cognitive therapy helps you become more mindfully aware of your thinking patterns in order to increase your ability to identify the distorted negative thoughts. Once these negative automatic thoughts are identified, we can modify them to reflect the situation more realistically and appropriately.

Mindful Awareness is the ability to be in the moment physically, emotionally, and mentally. Being mindfully aware means “being” in the here-and-now, rather than ruminating over the past or worrying about the future. The moment-by-moment process of actively observing the environment and mindfully attending to one’s experiences is crucial to our ability to identify those irrational thoughts and faulty beliefs that trigger anxiety. In turn, being able to mindfully identify those negative thinking patterns provides the opportunity to adjust for those distorted cognitions, correct our misperceptions, and minimize the unnecessary discomfort from anxiety.

Paradoxical Strategic Interventions is one of the distinguishing features integrated with this treatment program. The strategic approach is utilized for those covert, long-standing, repetitious patterns of symptoms that do not respond to direct interventions, such as logical explanations or rational suggestions. Paradoxical strategies are specific and behavioral in terms of its treatment approach, and are actually part of and embedded into behavioral interventions. In general, the combination of standard CBT integrated with paradoxical strategies allows you to identify the negative thinking patterns (e.g., “this is too hard,” “I’ll never finish all this work,” etc.) that tend to overwhelm our abilities to function effectively, which then influences our behaviors. You will acquire the skills and tools necessary to manage your thoughts rationally and handle the problem situation with healthy and adaptive behaviors.

The goals of therapy are to prevent the repetition of maladaptive thinking and behaviors, and introduce more adequate alternatives. This treatment is short-term, and many of our patients complete the program within 4 to 6 months on a weekly basis with significant symptom reduction by the 6th session. This program is available for treating:

• Individuals
• Family
• Couples
• Children and Adolescents

To find out further details about treatment for a specific condition, please contact us.