Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Essay

Anxiety is currently one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders and is heavily correlated with negatively impacting millions of people's lives every day. Today, therapy is one of the most common treatments for mental disorders such as anxiety. Anxiety is often treated specifically through cognitive behavioral therapy with the main goal of reducing the patient's anxiety symptoms. Although cognitive behavioral therapy is among the most common treatments for patients with anxiety, it is often argued whether it is the most effective way to conquer the disorder. Many people believe that in order for treatment to be effective, drugs need to be paired with therapy. Others believe that therapy is an overrated practice and drugs alone are most effective in controlling anxiety.

The authentic effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy comes from the belief that “maladaptive cognitions contribute to the maintenance of emotional distress and behavioral problems” (Hoffman). The goal of cognitive behavioral therapy is to develop strategies to change the maladaptive cognitions leading to a change in emotional anguish and damaging behaviors. In a study done by , it was found that this type of therapy is a reliable approach for treatment of anxiety. The goal of this study was to “provide a comprehensive survey of meta-analyses examining the efficacy of CBT” (Hoffman). The study also found evidence that cognitive behavioral therapy showed “superior performance over psychopharmacology in the long term” (Hoffman). It is argued that anxiety is caused to due irregulation of brain chemistry, therefore, medication is the only solution. But it was found that “Therapy - without any medicinal intervention - has been shown to improve chemical regulation” (Calmclinic). Knowing this, drugs are seemingly unnecessary in the process of overcoming