CBT, short for Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy, is a form of psychotherapy that aims at improving one'
s mental health through the process of challenging and correcting any unhelpful thoughts, attitudes, and ways of thinking. The idea is that most of your negative thoughts come from unrealistic and irrational mindsets, so by challenging these irrational thoughts and beliefs, you can see past the "negative filter" (cognitive distortions) you unknowingly imposed on yourself.
A girl who's—in
reality—skinny but think she's obese is a typical example of an irrational negative belief, which can be fixed with CBT.
CBT differs from other traditional therapies in that, rather than letting you
vent out all your feelings (while the therapist nods to
whatever you'
re saying), it is entirely "solution-orientated". This generally involves a structured approach where the therapist
first identifies the flaws in your thoughts, and then tells you to see your thoughts as just ideas, rather than as
facts. After that, the sessions generally involve trying ways to fix your perception (by looking at different viewpoints).
My
friend persistently thought he could never get a girlfriend, so I told him to go seek CBT. After two months of CBT, his previous ways of thinking (I'm too ugly for a pretty girl, I can never find the
perfect time to talk to her, I sweat too much, etc etc) were trashed and replaced by more helpful and realistic thoughts. Six months later and he's already dated two
hot college chicks.