How Can CBT Help With Improving Your Self-Talk?

Clients do a lot of work in therapy. This includes engaging in open and honest conversations, exploring the root causes of issues, and developing healthy coping mechanisms to aid the journey toward positive change. Another effective thing you can work through with a clinician during therapy is improving your self-talk. Whether we realize it or not, our self-talk significantly influences our therapeutic growth. How we speak to ourselves influences our thoughts and behaviors. Self-talk can either help us through difficult times or impose limiting thoughts that make it difficult for us to heal and grow.

Today, we'll dive into why improving self-talk is critical to the therapeutic process. One way clinicians do this is through cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). While some feel CBT is overused, it can be extremely effective when implemented correctly. Learning about CBT and its uses and benefits can provide a better understanding of how it can help improve your self-talk. Improving self-talk can also help individuals recovering from addiction and other mental health conditions. Of course, for additional addiction treatment options, we encourage you to contact us at West Coast Recovery Centers today! 

What Is CBT?

The American Psychological Association (APA) describes CBT as a form of psychological treatment that is effective in treating a range of mental health conditions. This includes depression, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorder (SUD). However, along with treating these mental health conditions, it can also be used to solve other problems in a person's life. That includes interpersonal relationships, bad habits, marital issues, and more.

CBT helps clients identify unhelpful thoughts that perpetuate unhealthy cycles and thoughts. Within addiction treatment, CBT can help people uncover the root cause behind the habit of using. By unearthing the reasons behind the negative thoughts or the compulsion to use substances, clients learn to modify their thinking patterns and find healthy ways to cope.

CBT Areas of Focus

Addiction treatment is most effective when individualized. So, CBT looks different from one client to the next. As a combination of behavior and cognitive therapy, some CBT areas of focus include: 

• Identifying negative feelings 
• Recognizing harmful thought patterns 
• Challenging harmful and unhelpful beliefs 
• Working to change behaviors influenced by harmful thought patterns 
• Teaching clients the necessary skills to solve problems and prevent additional issues 

How Does CBT Work and What Are Its Benefits?

As mentioned, CBT helps clients identify and change negative thought patterns and behaviors. These changes are geared toward improving mood, overall well-being, and mental health conditions. The hope is that changing negative thought patterns can help stop harmful behaviors. 

Some of the benefits people experience when participating in CBT include: 

• Understanding and making sense of problems by breaking them down
• Helping improve the symptoms of several mental health conditions 
• Preventing relapse after clients leave an addiction treatment program 
• Helping clients develop positive, healthier thought patterns and behaviors
• Setting small, achievable goals clients can strive toward during treatment 

What Is Self-Talk?

Self-talk essentially refers to how we talk to ourselves. It's an internal dialogue or inner voice that can influence emotions and behaviors. Additionally, it can significantly influence confidence, self-esteem, and how we perceive ourselves. 

Positive vs. Negative Self-Talk

A person's positive self-talk is typically supportive and encouraging. On the other hand, our negative self-talk is usually critical. Negative self-talk is also unhelpful, and even worse, it can cause harm to one's self-image, relationship, and overall mental and physical well-being. 

Why Is Improving Your Self-Talk Important?

For those of us with negative self-talk, it's critical to improve it. Doing so can help people: 

• Build confidence 
• Increase self-esteem 
• Improve well-being 
• Reduce the risk of mental illness
• Increase productivity 
• Help achieve life goals 

How Improving Your Self-Talk Impacts Recovery

Additionally, improving your self-talk is critical to addiction recovery. Negative self-talk can increase the risk of co-occurring disorders, reduce self-confidence, and intensify symptoms. Positive self-talk can help require the brain, allowing individuals to: 

• Combat negative thoughts
• Reduce self-criticism 
• Promote healthier mindsets 
• Navigate recovery challenges 
• Learn self-compassion 

How Can You Start Improving Your Self-Talk Through CBT?

The first step toward improving your self-talk through CBT is becoming aware of negative self-talk patterns and actively challenging those thoughts. Through CBT, clients can: 

• Identify negative self-talk patterns 
• Determine if their self-talk is accurate
• Gather evidence that contradicts the negative thought patterns 
• Replace or reframe negative thoughts with positive, realistic thoughts
• Change language and use positive affirmation to encourage positive self-talk 

Of course, improving your self-talk is simply one thing that can help you achieve your recovery goals. Things like detox, inpatient or outpatient treatment, relapse prevention plans, and aftercare programs are also key to seeking treatment, getting sober, and maintaining recovery. 

West Coast Recovery Centers can help you rediscover your life through sustainable recovery. Reach out to learn more about our San Diego addiction and mental health treatment facility today. 

Addiction treatment is multi-faceted. There are a variety of programs, treatments, and methods that can help a person achieve and maintain long-term, sustainable recovery. One thing that can help with this process is improving your self-talk. Self-talk is an internal dialogue we have with ourselves. It influences our thoughts, actions, and behaviors. Negative self-talk can lead to low self-esteem, and lack of confidence, and increase the risk of developing mental health conditions. Positive self-talk, on the other hand, can help a person heal and recover from addiction. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help. For more information about improving your self-talk with CBT, call West Coast Recovery Centers at (760) 492-6509 today.