Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Teens: A Comprehensive Guide

Mental health is one of the most important thing for the health and wellness of teens. The issue of mental health can be addressed by the cognitive behavioral therapy for teens. According to a research 50 percent of the US population will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime (National Library of Medicine)

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for teens?

Any type of functional therapy that can be applied in your life with intention can be positive: trying to train your brain and body, breath work, theory and framework, even traditional therapy for acceptance, being advised on managing responsibilities while inexplicably disabled without warning for what can long periods sometimes you need to hear you have to aim for a life that can be handled and is manageable (4 day work week preference vs wanting to be the president, change expectations for what you want and is achievable to be happy and healthy without feeling like a failure).

CBT in short is a therapist asking their patient where the patient would like to be regarding an issue or circumstance and helping them figure out the steps to get there.

It could help people in a lot of ways.

Why CBT for Teens?

For comparison purposes, the researchers also measured brain activity in a separate sample of 87 youth who were at high risk for anxiety based on their infant temperament (for example, showing a high sensitivity to new situations). Because these children were not diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, they had not received CBT treatment. Their brain scans were taken at 10 and 13 years.

In adolescents at temperamental risk for anxiety, higher brain activity was related to increased anxiety symptoms over time and matched the brain activity seen in children diagnosed with an anxiety disorder before treatment. This provides preliminary evidence that the brain changes in children with anxiety were driven by CBT and that they may offer a reliable neural marker of anxiety treatment.

How does CBT Work for Teens?

There are some initial assessments that are taken before CBT. These assessments include interviews from the teen for a better understanding of the problem like sadness, depression, anxiety etc. After the initial assessments, the therapist set some goals for the cognitive behavioral therapy for teens. These goals are set keep in mind that the goals are clear and achievable. Therapist also ensure that the goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. For all this process, a trusty relation with the teen is the core component of process. For a trusty relationship, therapist use an age-appropriate language according to the teen and engage the teen in activities which are helpful for building a strong relationship with teen.

The core components of CBT includes the following:

• Psycho-education
  In this phase, the teen is educated about the process of cognitive behavioral therapy for teen. Explanation of connection between thoughts, feelings and behaviors included in this part.
• Cognitive Restructuring
  The teen is educated, how to identify and challenge the negative thoughts. The teen is educated about the tools that are used to track and analyze thoughts.
• Behavioral Activation
  In this phase, teen is encourage to take part in positive activities. The teen is asked to develop a schedule to increase participation in enjoyable and meaningful activities.
• Exposure Therapy
  The teen is gradually exposed to feared situations. Usage of an exposure hierarchy to build up from less to more anxiety-provoking situations include in this part.

Sessions Plans

1. Introduction and Assessments:
   First introduce the concept of cognitive behavioral therapy for teens. Conduct some initial assessments and set the goals for the teen’s therapy. The goal must be time bound, relevant, specific, measurable, attainable, clear and achievable.
2. Understanding Thoughts and Feelings:
   Now explain the importance of relationship between thoughts, feeling, and behavior. Begin the usage of tools to track the thoughts. PsychoPulse has develop a excel sheet to help you to track your positive thoughts and negative thoughts.
3. Identifying Negative Thought Patterns:
   By tracking the positive and negative thoughts through PsychoPulse Positive and Negative sheet tracker, educated the teen to identify the cognitive distortions. Asked the teen to practice identifying the negative thoughts.
4. Challenging Negative Thoughts:
   You must introduce technique and tips to teen for challenging and reframing negative thoughts. Use role-playing and thought records.
5. Behavioral Experiments:
   Introduce different behavior to the teen as an experiments. Track the results. If the result are positive then keep it up and if the results are negative then change the style of experiment or the change the behavior. Don’t forget to review outcomes and insights gained from the experiment in cognitive behavioral therapy for teen.
6. Exposure Techniques:
   The question asked is What are some good exposure therapy techniques? For example like asking a stranger the time, asking where something is etc.  The exposure exercises you do need to be specific to you that what situations cause you anxiety? Then develop an exposure hierarchy and begin gradual exposure to feared situations.
7. Building Coping Skills:
   In all this sessions, the teen can be upset, nervous and stressed. Teach stress management techniques like deep breathing and mindfulness to the teen. Asked the teen to practice coping techniques.
8. Enhancing Social Skills:
   With kids it was the school social worker that helped with socializing and leading social skills groups with similar children. She would also work with them at the playground or at lunch. This is in the US, I have no clue where you are located though lol. For something similar, reach out to whoever is in charge of your child’s caseload and bring up your concerns to see if they can get an evaluation for social skills. The main thing that helped at home was exposure, especially at the library with all their little clubs. So, just lots of exposure and experimentation to help them find their people.
9. Managing Stress:
   Stress is an emotion and it’s not just evil; it can be powerful and useful in certain contexts. It can also be problematic in other contexts. The fastest way to decrease stress in real-time: double inhale, long exhale. Repeat 2/3 times. Make sure your exhales are LONGER/and or more vigorous than your inhales.
10. Review and Relapse Prevention:
    Now review all the results and develop a plan to maintain positive results. Again the usage of tracking tools are compulsory. Be patience.

Conclusion

Cognitive behavioral therapy for teens is a powerful and practical tool for helping teens in their problems of adolescence. Cognitive behavioral therapy for teens addresses the teens, how to challenge the teen’s age problems like sadness and depression. First of all, it identify the problem, then find the origin of problem and then explain the solution.

At PsychoPulse, we are committed to provide valuable resources and support for mental health. Stay with us for more tips on fostering mental well-being in teens and beyond.