Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a short-term form of behavioral treatment. It helps people problem-solve. CBT also reveals the relationship between beliefs, thoughts, and feelings, and the behaviors that follow. Through CBT, people learn that their perceptions directly influence how they respond to specific situations. In other words, a person’s thought process informs their behaviors and actions.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is not a distinct treatment technique. Instead, it is a general term which refers to a group of therapies. These therapies have certain similarities in therapeutic methodology. The group includes rational emotive behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, and dialectical behavior therapy.

Cognitive behavioral therapy may be a treatment option for children with autism spectrum disorder who have other mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It teaches children to alter their beliefs or behaviors to avoid negative emotions.

Cognitive behavioral therapy has two main parts. The cognitive component helps children change how they think about a situation, whereas the behavioral component helps children change how they react to a situation.

CBT is a short-term, problem-focused approach. The goal is to teach children, as well as their parents, a variety of coping skills to help the child manage difficult situations.

During cognitive behavioral therapy sessions, your child works with a specially trained therapist to learn how his or her thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are related and influence each other. In order to change unwanted feelings or problematic behaviors, the therapist teaches your child strategies to modify thoughts and to respond differently during certain situations.

How cognitive behavioral therapy works?

Cognitive behavioral therapy is grounded in the belief that how a person perceives events determines how they will act. It is not the events themselves that determine the person's actions or feelings. For example, a person with anxiety may believe that “everything will turn out badly today.” These negative thoughts may influence their focus. They may then only perceive negative things that happen. Meanwhile, they may block out or avoid thoughts or actions that could disprove the negative belief system. Afterward, when nothing appears to go right in the day, the person may feel even more anxious than before. The negative belief system may get stronger. The person is at risk of being trapped in a vicious, continuous cycle of anxiety. 

Cognitive behavioral therapists believe we can adjust our thoughts. This is thought to directly influence our emotions and behavior. The adjustment process is called cognitive restructuring. Aaron T. Beck is the psychiatrist widely considered to be the father of cognitive therapy. He believed a person’s thinking pattern may become established in childhood. He found that certain cognitive errors could lead to depressogenic or dysfunctional assumptions.

Common cognitive errors and their associated dysfunctional assumptions include:

• Self-references: "People always focuses attention on me, especially when I fail."
• Selective abstraction: "Only my failures matter. I am measured by my failures."
• Overgeneralizing: "If something is true in one setting, it is true in every setting."
• Excessive responsibility: "I am responsible for every failure and every bad thing that happens."
• Dichotomous thinking: Viewing the world in extremes, black or white, with nothing in between.

The cognitive behavioral process is based on an educational model. People in therapy are helped to unlearn negative reactions and learn new ones. These are positive reactions to challenging situations. CBT helps break down overwhelming problems into small, manageable parts. Therapists help people set and reach short-term goals. Then the therapist gradually adjusts how the person in treatment thinks, feels, and reacts in tough situations. Changing attitudes and behaviors can help people learn to address specific issues in productive ways.