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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
A group of treatment techniques that aims to change disordered behaviors, cognitions, and feelings through well-established principles of learning. CBT assumes that maladaptive behaviors are learned though reinforcement, and the goal of therapy is thus to unlearn those behaviors. As opposed to psychodynamic therapy, CBT is not concerned with the patient's past or the roots of the problem but rather with the present symptoms. The goal is to identify problematic behaviors, establish concrete behavioral goals, and change the dysfunctional behaviors through a focused and short-term period of therapy. An important aspect of CBT, which distinguishes it from the more purely behavioral therapies introduced by John Watson or B. F. Skinner, is the incorporation of cognitive processes. Indeed, CBT assumes that dysfunctional thoughts can cause disturbed ...