Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT):
What is it?

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT):
How is it Used?

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ritasharma DrAmyA sshowalter Publisher

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Side Effects and Warnings

Side Effects and Warnings

While there are no serious side effects stemming from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT is not for everyone and another type of treatment may work better for different individuals. CBT is also not a quick fix. A therapist is like a personal trainer that advises and encourages - but cannot 'do' it for you. This will take an investment of time and money on the individual’s part. Moreover, if you are feeling low energy, depressed, or anxious, it can be difficult to concentrate and get motivated and CBT relies on the individual engaging with the process, trying new strategies, and completing “homework” in between sessions. You need to have a certain degree of motivation to benefit from CBT. Lastly, to overcome anxiety or any other psychological disturbance, you need to confront it. This may lead you to feel more anxious for a short time.2 However, if you are able to tolerate this, you may benefit from CBT and ultimately feel some relief from your symptoms. A good therapist will pace your sessions. You decide what you do together, so you stay in control and take on what you feel comfortable with.


  1. Williams, C. J. (2001). Overcoming depression. London: Arnold.

CBT is evil and a pure destructive force. Under no circumstances should you or anyone you know use it.

If your spouse is under going CBT, walk out now, leave now.

They will become evil personified. There are no bounds a person who's under gone CBT, will do to make everyone's lives a misery.

They become irrational, illogical. They think that they are the most important person in the universe. They will not care about anyone else, or their feelings. They even lie in official documents.

DO NOT DO CBT or allow anyone you know to undertake a course. As I say if your spouse is doing the course, pack your bags and never look back. They will make your life a living hell for no reason whatsoever. They lose all perspective of right and wrong, and no matter what they've done wrong, after CBT everyone else is wrong, not ever them.


7 years ago

Lots of emotional comment, almost no facts or proof of CBT being evil. This comment is of no use to anyone. I might agree with the assertions made if they were made in a scientific way.

5 years ago

I think it is not true, that CBT has almost no side effects. It really depends on situation and in many cases can have serious side effects. Authors of articles should stop coping one another, suggesting it has almost no effect. People with health issues, routinely pushed through this therapy, may experience serious consequences.

4 years ago

CBT can be helpful, but there's so little to it. The problem is that it encourages therapists to think of themselves as smart and the people they help as dumb. There's a preconception that they have all the answers ahead of time. As much as I dislike neo-Freudianism, at least they understand that puzzling out what's really bothering someone is hard and not pre-known. That full self-knowledge is sometimes highly difficult for people, especially if they have serious conditions that cause adrenaline spikes that distort understanding. I've had CBT therapists just repeat "just try not to think about it" to me every single session. This should be reasoned, this should be scientific,you and your therapist should be explorers trying to figure out a puzzle, not a poor supplicant seeking out a wizard. That's the side effect of CBT, you often come to think of yourself as dumb when you're made to write out "i think x is scary but i know it's not" over and over again like your 5 years old. The fear is often not about the thing itself, the mind tricks you. Only puzzling it out will work, not stating the insanely obvious "being afraid of water is irrational" like you were too much of an idiot to figure it out the first time. /rant.

3 years ago