Similarities between Buddhism and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Wisdomandcompassio

Seven years ago, I was treated for major depression and anxiety using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Two years ago, I started learning Buddhism. I am amazed by the similarity between the two.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is based on the fact, that how we think affects how we feel. For example, irrational thoughts, like everyone must like me will cause us to feel upset, every time, we confront a person who reacts negatively to us, we feel upset. Cognitive Behavioural therapy also operates on the idea, that it is our unrealistic expectations that causes much suffering. For example, I must be rich, I must always have many friends etc. Cognitive Behavioural therapy is about thinking realistically and rationally.

Buddhism says the same thing, but in a different way. Buddhism uses the word, desire instead of expectations and Buddhism too is about thinking realistically, that is, impermanence, law of causes, conditions and effects, suffering etc. Buddhism emphasizes wisdom which is similar to rational thinking promoted by Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

What are your thoughts on this?

ShiftPlusOne

I think just about all psychotherapy is covered by Buddhism.

fivebells

There are some similarities in the psychological models used by CBT and Buddhist meditation, but the actual practices are very different. The key idea in CBT is to talk one's self out of disturbing beliefs and thought patterns, thereby ending the disturbance. The key idea in Buddhist meditation is to learn to rest in the disturbance itself, so that the need to react to end the disturbance dissipates.

My own experience in practice is that CBT puts the cart before the horse, because one's emotional landscape has a much bigger impact on one's intellectual landscape than the other way around.

fivebells

I just noticed that this thread is a duplicate. (I responded again because I thought my first response had somehow failed to go through.)

sukhita

I am a "worrier" - I worry big time. I have just started using this book "Overcoming Worry" as a self-help guide to manage generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). It uses cognitive behavioral techniques. So far, I have found that using the techniques in this book in combination with the Buddhist teachings works very well, for me at least. One of the things this book stresses is to learn to live with uncertainties - something I have always struggled with. Since using this book, my worry levels have already dropped quite a bit.

And yes... I agree that there are similarities, and that the one can complement the other especially for people who suffer from depression, anxiety disorders, and other mental health issues.

Wisdomandcompassio

sukhita wrote: »

I am a "worrier" - I worry big time. I have just started using this book "Overcoming Worry" as a self-help guide to manage generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). It uses cognitive behavioral techniques. So far, I have found that using the techniques in this book in combination with the Buddhist teachings works very well, for me at least. One of the things this book stresses is to learn to live with uncertainties - something I have always struggled with. Since using this book, my worry levels have already dropped quite a bit.

And yes... I agree that there are similarities, and that the one can complement the other especially for people who suffer from depression, anxiety disorders, and other mental health issues.

Well done on your recovery! Keep up the good work.

For me, the challenge that took the longest to overcome was also generalized anxiety disorder. It took me three years before I got it under control. As with uncertainty, yes, there are negatives with uncertainty (that is, bad things can happen to us unexpectedly, for example, accident), however, uncertainty can be very positive. Because nothing is certain, that gives us hope to achieve our goals. If everything was certain (that is, we know what we will get cancer, when we will die etc) and there was nothing we could do, that would be terrible. So, uncertainty gives us hope. Also, uncertainty makes life exciting and interesting. If knew everything that would happen, life would be a bit boring. Below is quote about worrying.

"Why destroy your present happiness by a distant misery, which may never come at all? For every substantial grief has twenty shadows and most of the shadows are of your own making" Sydney Smith.

"The pain of anxiety is invariable greater than the pain of the situations we fear". Sarah Edelman

andyrobyn

I see Buddhism as addressing the same issues that psychology does, ie mental stress and its cessation. From my own experiences with anxiety, over time both personally and in my work ( as a mental health practitioner ) I agree that a multi-prong approach seems the most useful for most individuals. My ability to meditate when at the peak of my anxiety disorder was limited, and this needed to be addressed first.

MellowViper

Yah, there's a lot of things in current psychology that parallel. I don't know much about behavioral therapy, but the neurofeedback treatments used to treat ADD seem to me like a space age version of what monks have been doing for thousands of years. It takes the subtleties that one usually has to train to recognize in meditation and puts it all on a screen for you to watch.

sukhita

Wisdom and compassion wrote: »

Well done on your recovery! Keep up the good work.

For me, the challenge that took the longest to overcome was also generalized anxiety disorder. It took me three years before I got it under control. As with uncertainty, yes, there are negatives with uncertainty (that is, bad things can happen to us unexpectedly, for example, accident), however, uncertainty can be very positive. Because nothing is certain, that gives us hope to achieve our goals. If everything was certain (that is, we know what we will get cancer, when we will die etc) and there was nothing we could do, that would be terrible. So, uncertainty gives us hope. Also, uncertainty makes life exciting and interesting. If knew everything that would happen, life would be a bit boring. Below is quote about worrying.

"Why destroy your present happiness by a distant misery, which may never come at all? For every substantial grief has twenty shadows and most of the shadows are of your own making" Sydney Smith.

"The pain of anxiety is invariable greater than the pain of the situations we fear". Sarah Edelman

Thanks...

I agree with you - it's hard to imagine a world without uncertainties.

Now I try to look at worries and uncertainties like a flowing river... I can choose to:

• jump into the river of worries and uncertainties and drown in them, or
• sit on the banks of the river and just watch worries and uncertainties come and go, always endeavouring to know them for what they really are.

The book I'm reading, viz. "Overcoming Worry", draws reference to this quote from Shantideva (eight-century Indian buddhist scholar):

If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?

Sorry for going somewhat ---> :ot: