Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is structured, time-limited, and homework-driven. Prachi’s words: “The child receives tools to become aware of their mental frameworks (thoughts, feelings & beliefs) and how to change them.”
How CBT looks in session
You bring a situation that bothered you this week. We slow it down — what happened, what you thought, what you felt, what you did, what happened next. We notice the thinking pattern. We try a different one, in your head, in a journal, sometimes role-played in the room. You leave with one tiny experiment to run before next session.
What CBT is good for
- Anxiety, panic, phobias
- Depression
- Anger that surprises you
- Self-critical thinking (“I’m stupid,” “Nobody likes me,” “I always mess up”)
- Sleep issues with a thinking-loop component
- Older children, teens, parents
What CBT is not great for
- Pre-verbal trauma (use play therapy)
- Complex developmental trauma alone (use trauma-informed work + CBT later)
- Children under 8 — not because they can’t, but because play tends to work better
Three takeaways
- Thoughts are not facts. CBT is the practice of remembering that.
- Small, repeated experiments outperform big breakthroughs.
- CBT pairs well with parent coaching — the home language has to change too.