Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Self-ValYOU

When I sat down a few weeks ago and talked with Licensed Professional Counselor Steve Dalbey, (his video IntervYOU is coming soon!) he told me that the Self-ValYOU program actually uses a tool called Cognitive Behavior Therapy, which psychologists and therapists use in working with patients! So without realizing it at the time, the tools I developed (Offramps and YOU-Turns) are actually recognized clinical techniques and he said programs like mine are very effective in helping people manage body and self image. I decided I should do some research on CBT to understand it better. I found that CBT is a form of therapy that treats problems and boosts happiness by changing negative emotions, behaviors, and thoughts (like self-critical talk and thinking). Instead of concentrating on the past and history behind feelings it focuses more on solutions and changing destructive patterns by recognizing them (like the "Y Am I Feeling This Way" tool in my program) and actively changing them. It was invented by a psychiatrist Aaron Beck in the 1960's when he discovered that his patients had an internal conversation going on with themselves in their minds, and that the negative thoughts they held onto affected how they viewed what was going on around them in the world.

This is a great article about CBT and how it works. It was amazing reading this because it was like reading exactly what I discovered about myself back at the beginning of when I started working on what would become Self-ValYOU. I feel so honored that Mr. Dalbey recognized this technique in my program and it has definitely made more more interested in looking at classes in school about psychology!

https://psychcentral.com/lib/in-depth-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/

https://psychcentral.com/lib/in-depth-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/