What are Cognitive Behavioral Principles?

Cognitive behavioral principles come from treatments that are based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors all work together to create our emotions. These principles focus on helping people become more aware of how they think, and adjust  or “re-frame” — their thoughts to make emotions and experiences feel more manageable.

How might Cognitive Behavioral Principles benefit me?

There is strong scientific support for cognitive behavioral therapy as an intervention for a wide range of symptoms and disorders(e.g. Hoffman et al., 2012).  Clinical trials have found CBT to be an effective in treating stress and anxiety (e.g ), depression (), schizophrenia (), and several other conditions ().

Can I get the same benefits from doing this online?
The components of CBT can be broken down into concrete steps and skills  – there is promising evidence that these skills can be delivered, taught and practiced online (e.g. Spek Cuipers, Nyklice, & Riper, 2007). Web-based CBT has been shown to be effective for the treatment of specific disorders as well, including depression and anxiety in adults (e.g. Andrews et al, 2010) and adolescents (Spence et al, 2011).

…and on my smartphone?
Studies comparing the effectiveness of CBT via mobile and web-browsing technologies show similar results across platforms (e.g Watts et al, 2013). Research in this area is in it’s early stages, but mobile apps that implement CBT principles show promising results across a variety of symptoms (e.g. Donker et al, 2013).