Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Teens
BasePoint Academy Offers Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) For Adolescents & Teenagers Age 12-17
Practical Help For Teens. Effective Healing For Life.
Are you a teen struggling with overwhelming thoughts and emotions? Do you worry that your adolescent isn’t coping well with the pressures of their environment? The team at BasePoint Academy is committed to helping individuals as you get from where they are now to where they want to be through proven techniques.
We specialize in treating adolescent depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and other co-occurring disorders with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This highly effective method helps those struggling with behavioral issues overcome the thoughts and emotions that seem insurmountable. Freedom is found here. Let us show you how.
What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a form of psychotherapy or talk therapy that takes place over a short period of time. The process of CBT explores the connection between one’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Working with a CBT therapist or child counselor will help the patient uncover where undesirable behavior and unhealthy patterns may be stemming from.
Our evidence-based approach to this type of therapy has been scientifically proven to be effective in treating a wide variety of behavioral and mental health challenges. From anxiety disorders, teen depression, ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and processing disorders to eating disorders, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders. It’s also an industry-standard behavioral therapy modality for treating other issues, such as dual diagnosis and substance use disorders.
How CBT Works:
The core belief of CBT is that our thoughts drive our emotions, and our emotions determine our behavior. By focusing on this evidence-based chain of events, therapists can help deter negative thought patterns before they lead to self-destructive actions such as substance abuse or self-harm. These interventions have been proven to have a life-changing effect on teens’ mental health, making CBT one of the most used psychological treatments for young adults.
Our clinicians help our patients use cognitive restructuring to put an end to negative thoughts through role-playing and other forms of psychotherapy. Using a systematic review, we take every thought captive and choose a better outcome. In many teens, the typical chain of thoughts in a short-term problem may look like this:
- Thought: A friend fails to invite someone to their party. That person is then triggered to think they’re not wanted.
- Emotion: This feeling of rejection spirals into more emotions such as sadness, loneliness, and self-hatred.
- Behavior: These emotions lead to the person acting out their feelings through self-harm or using substances to push down their emotions.
With CBT, individuals learn how to arrest those thoughts before they can lead to overwhelming emotions and unwanted behavior. The techniques taught through CBT often include
- Relaxation Techniques that help teens calm themselves in the midst of triggering events.
- Behavioral Modification, where teens develop new healthy behaviors to replace destructive ones of habit.
Skills Training such as social skills, communication, interpersonal skills, and time management.
CBT: Evidence-Based and Effective Treatment For Teens
Cognitive Behavior Treatment has been used for decades in psychiatry to treat a myriad of mental health issues. Since the 1960s, its been one of the most preferred methods for treating adolescents [1]. The most common disorders treated with CBT include:
- Anxiety Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Depressive Disorders
- ADHD
- Phobias
- Autism
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Substance Use Disorder
With the effective implementation of CBT, patients can overcome social anxiety and learn practical tools to help manage triggers that may be affecting their mental health. These techniques help build their self-esteem so negative thoughts are put to rest once and for all.
Anger Management
Cognitive Behavioral Treatment has various applications and forms. One of them is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). This method is often used to treat mental health disorders, especially those dealing with self-harm and borderline personality disorders. While CBT focuses on thoughts, feelings, and behavior and how they are all tied together, DBT focuses on regulating emotions with mindfulness and acceptance.
The Benefits and Effectiveness Of CBT
The newest studies conducted by health professionals and organizations have shown that CBT is a highly effective modality for treating teens and adolescents struggling with negative thoughts and harmful behavior. Teens are taught problem-solving techniques and constructive thinking patterns, which contribute to an overall improvement in their personal well-being for life, not just for their teen years.
Studies on CBT have concluded the following:
- When used in schools, CBT is beneficial in treating generalized anxiety, stress, depression, and behavioral problems. [2]
- Scientific evidence shows that CBT effectively manages ADHD, anxiety, and disruptive behavior disorders in teens and adolescents. [3]
With such promising results, more studies are being conducted to determine how to best apply the principles of CBT in schools and homes.
Teen Treatment Programs
At BasePoint Academy, our providers have developed treatment programs designed to help teens and adolescents, specifically. We believe that not every form of therapy is beneficial to this unique age group, so we’ve endeavored to focus on treatment planning focused on them and their unique needs.
Our patient-focused programs include comprehensive treatment plans taking patients from their current situation all the way through to their future goals and desired outcomes. After an initial evaluation, we work with families to determine the best start for the patient’s therapy and help them integrate into our Partial Hospitalization Program or our Intensive Outpatient Program. No matter which program your teen enters, they’ll be surrounded by a staff dedicated to their success and engage in CBT treatment and holistic medication management to help patients achieve their optimal mental health.
Frequently Asked Questions About CBT For Teens
After evaluating each patient, our clinicians will decide on the best mix of CBT techniques for their unique situation. This plan may be any combination of the following:
- Modeling: A form of role play, the therapist will typically act out the desired response to a situation and then ask the patient to do the same.
- Trauma-Focused CBT: For teens dealing with PTSD, this method focuses on the trauma they experienced and their behavioral and cognitive responses to it.
- Restructuring: With this method, the therapist shows teens how to take their typical negative responses and flip them to a positive way of seeing the same situation.
- Exposure: The therapist will slowly expose teens to triggers in a safe environment to see how they trigger their responses.
Every patient’s journey with therapy is unique, so putting a specific timeframe to treatment isn’t beneficial to anyone. However, teens can expect improvement in their coping skills after their initial sessions, which will only improve as they continue working with our team.
Working with adolescents requires a unique focus and approach by therapists, which isn’t something every professional possesses. For CBT to be effective, the patient must trust their therapist and allow themselves to be vulnerable and open.
If you’re a teen struggling to connect with your therapist, be honest about this and get help finding someone you’re more comfortable with. This special relationship is crucial to the success of any therapy, but, in particular, that of teen and adolescent therapy. Our clinical staff is committed to working with this particular age group and has gone through age-specific training for them.
The framework for CBT can be boiled down to three primary principles, or the three “Cs.”
Catch is the first principle, referencing catching negative feelings before they get out of hand and determining what thought has led to them. Check is the second, referring to taking stock and weighing whether or not those thoughts are true, accurate, or helpful. Change is the final component, encouraging the teen to flip the script on thoughts and feelings that they have internally deemed unhealthy or unhelpful.
These are some of the practical coping skills our teens learn to navigate challenging mental health and substance use concerns.
Be Empowered To Embody The Best Version Of Yourself With CBT Treatment For Teens
At BasePoint Academy, we’re committed to helping teens overcome their mental health struggles and become who they were meant to be. Our patient-focused team is dedicated to showing those feeling weighed down and isolated that they are not alone and that there is hope for their future.
BPA is a safe place for healing, and CBT is an effective way to finally find freedom from overwhelming thoughts and feelings. Let our team show you the way to your best future.
Sources
[1]Halder, S., & Mahato, A. K. (2019). Cognitive behavior therapy for children and adolescents: Challenges and gaps in practice. Indian journal of psychological medicine. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6532387/ on February 7, 2023
[2] Halder, S., & Mahato, A. K. (2019). Cognitive behavior therapy for children and adolescents: Challenges and gaps in practice. Indian journal of psychological medicine. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6532387 on February 8, 2023
[3] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, April 19). Therapy to improve children’s mental health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/parent-behavior-therapy.html on February 8, 2023
