Summary: Fifty years of research shows that CBT is an effective treatment for a wide range of mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Key Points:
- CBT was invented in the late 1960s and 1970s to treat depression
- By the 1990s, use of CBT expanded to include anxiety disorders, substance misuse, and eating disorders
- The core tenets of CBT – thoughts impact behavior and emotion, and restructuring thoughts can lead to behavioral change and improved emotional regulation – are what most people recognize as the basis of psychotherapy, a.k.a. talk therapy
- New variations of CBT may be effective for serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and psychosis
CBT for Mental Health: Treatment Basics
In 2025, the foundational concepts of CBT seem more like common sense than cutting-edge therapeutic techniques.
The CBT approach revolves around the idea that our personal, subjective interpretations of external events have a profound influence on our behavioral, emotional, and physical reactions to those events, and that those subjective reactions interpretations have more influence on our behavior and emotions than the events themselves.
When our personal interpretations are inaccurate, unhelpful, or unhealthy, they’re called cognitive distortions, a.k.a. automatic thoughts. These thoughts – in the language of CBT – are the source of the problems and disruption caused by the symptoms of mental health disorders. In CBT, therapists help patients identify when their automatic thoughts – about people, situations, life, and the world– lead to maladaptive patterns of belief and behavior.
Understanding those basic concepts helps us fully understand this basic definition of CBT:
“Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a form of structured talk therapy that helps individuals learn to recognize and change negative patterns of thinking and behavior in order to better cope with challenging situations and improve overall quality of life.”
It’s important to remember that what’s obvious to us now was not obvious fifty years ago, when most people understood psychotherapy as a process that involved diving deep into their family history and/or childhood, unpacking the details of their primary relationships, and connecting those thoughts and feelings to their current psychological and emotional challenges.
While work like that is still part of psychotherapy, CBT is a practical, results-based technique that focuses on giving people practical skills to resolve cognitive distortions, redirect maladaptive behaviors, and manage symptoms in real-time, in the here and now. That’s one reason it’s effective: it’s outcome oriented, and people who engage in CBT report significant positive outcomes across a wide variety of mental and behavioral disorders.
The Evidence Base Supporting CBT: New Research Confirms Effectiveness
In a new meta-analysis called “Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Mental Disorders in Adults: A Unified Series of Meta-Analyses,” a group of researchers posed this question:
Is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) associated with reductions in mental disorders in adults compared with controls?
To arrive at a reliable answer, they analyzed 325 studies – all random controlled trials – that included data from 32,968 patients, and tracked symptom reduction in patients compared to controls for the following diagnoses:
- Anxiety disorders
- Eating disorders
- Major depressive disorder (MDD)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Psychotic disorders
- Bipolar disorders
Here’s what they found.
The pooled results from all studies yielded small effect sizes – meaning CBT might be effective – for the following diagnoses:
- Bipolar disorders
- Psychotic disorder
Results yielded moderate effect sizes – meaning CBT will probably be effective – for the following diagnoses:
- Social anxiety
- General anxiety
- Bulimia nervosa
- Binge eating disorders
- Depressive disorders
Results yielded large effect sizes – meaning CBT has a high chance of success – for the following diagnoses:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Anxiety disorders (phobias, PTSD)
- Eating disorders other than bulimia
These results confirm a tenet of mental health treatment that some people still question:
Therapy works. Not for everyone and every disorder, but decades of evidence shows that for many of the most common mental health disorders, cognitive behavioral therapy – the most utilized form of psychotherapy – is safe and effective.
For an in-depth look at how CBT works for children, adolescents, and young adults, please read this article on our blog:
How Does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Help Children, Teens, and Young Adults?
We’ll close this article with a brief summary of how CBT works for most people, most diagnoses, and most situations.
CBT for Mental Health: A Three-Step Process
When a patient chooses to participate in treatment with CBT, they start by having an initial session with their therapist. The first session involves:
- Outlining and defining any problems or challenges the patient wants to address: what’s going on? Why are they in therapy?
- Describing expectations: what does the patient want or expect from therapy?
- Defining goals for therapy: this is a collaborative process that results in the creation of a treatment plan that can be modified during the course of treatment
Next, the work of therapy begins. This involves one-on-one sessions where the patient and therapist work to identify and resolve cognitive distortions that have a negative impact on psychological and emotional wellbeing. This phase may involve:
- Patient homework: journaling and other activities
- Stress management techniques: breathing, mindfulness, relaxation
- Problem-solving techniques: conflict resolution, help managing family, peer, and other relationships
Finally, the patient and therapist work on consolidating the gains made during treatment. They collaborate on determining what techniques worked best and how to integrate those techniques into daily life. They formulate a realistic plan for how the patient will manage any recurring symptoms or new mental health challenges in the future.
CBT at BACA
At BACA, our therapists are trained in CBT and other evidence-based therapeutic approaches for mental health disorders. We support patients with all the disorders CBT can help: depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, and others.
Our expert staff have experience adapting CBT techniques to the unique needs of children, adolescents, young adults, and adults who need support for clinical mental health diagnoses. Please call today, or fill out a contact form, and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible.
