Virtual Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Services Offered At Carolina Behavioral Therapy

Columbia, South Carolina -

Columbia, SC based Carolina Behavioral Therapy would like to shed light on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the myriad of benefits it offers clients. The mental health provider offers their community a number of virtual CBT-based treatments. Each client is recommended a treatment based on their specific mental health needs.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a form of therapy that can help clients learn how to manage their problems by changing the way they perceive their environment and respond to it. Carolina Behavioral Therapy is trained in several specific types of cognitive behavioral therapy, to address a variety of mental and physical issues. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a cognitive behavioral therapy approach designed to help people that experience extreme difficulty managing their emotions, especially those leading to extreme thoughts or behaviors, including substance abuse, suicide, and self-harm. In addition to DBT, Carolina Behavioral Therapy offers cognitive behavioral therapies that specifically help those facing PTSD or OCD.

PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, can develop in people from virtually all ages and all walks of life. While it may most commonly be associated with soldiers or other military personnel, it can affect anyone, including children. This is due to the fact that the condition is primarily caused by exposure to severe trauma, either as a witness or by experiencing it firsthand. According to Carolina Behavioral Therapy, an individual suffering from PTSD may re-experience memories associated with or directly involved with the trauma in question. This can be accompanied by physiological reactions. In general, PTSD can make it difficult for the individual to lead their life as desired due to how their symptoms present. Notably, every person’s experience is unique, so their response to trauma may need personalized attention even if they present with similar symptoms on the surface.

Carolina Behavioral Therapy offers a form of CBT known as Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) to help with PTSD. As the name suggests, this therapy involves guiding the client through their experiences, but the provider says it is undertaken in as gentle a manner as possible. Their therapists are highly respectful of the trauma their clients have experienced, and every step they take is with the goal of helping the latter process the traumatic event in a safe environment. In time, this allows the individual to heal and move beyond the trauma. Crucially, they explain that the goal is not to make the individual forget the memory. Instead, they need to learn to process it so they can heal. In time, there will be fewer triggers and instances where they relive these memories involuntarily. The goal of PE is to reduce the frequency and intensity of PTSD symptoms.

OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, is a very common condition that affects people around the world. People with OCD may experience obsessive thoughts or develop compulsive habits as a response to certain triggers, and Carolina Behavioral Therapy says they may even engage in avoidance behaviors. These compulsions, both behaviors and thoughts, arise in response to anxiety and discomfort the individual experiences. While this can be described as a coping mechanism in other contexts, OCD refers specifically to compulsions that have a disruptive effect on the individual’s life, by being time-consuming or not allowing them to focus on other matters.

Carolina Behavioral Therapy may employ Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (Ex/RP) to help people with OCD. This therapy helps the individual change their reaction to the emotions associated with their OCD habits. As a result, they can learn to react in a less disruptive fashion when they experience obsessive thoughts. Carolina Behavioral Therapy says this process takes a lot of investment from the individual, but it is possible for them to improve with time. They add that research suggests that approximately 70% of those who do a course of EX-RP therapy see significant improvement in their OCD.

The team at Carolina Behavioral Therapy works hard to help their community, and this is evident in the feedback they receive. In their Google review, Elizabeth T. says that the mental health provider is, “Really good with adolescents, treats them without belittling them or talking down to them, which is a problem I notice with a lot of other practices. I can say with full honesty this actually changed my life for the better. Billing wasn't stressful, and Dr. Fairweather was great about working with any complications that came up with my mother's credit card. Definitely someone who ‘gets it.’ I could not recommend this practice more.”

If you or a loved one are struggling with PTSD or OCD, or other mental health conditions, including severe anxiety or depression, let Carolina Behavioral Therapy help. All services at Carolina Behavioral Therapy are offered to residents of North Carolina and South Carolina via telehealth. Dr. Scott Fairweather of Carolina Behavioral Therapy is available for virtual counseling consultations, as is the rest of their experienced staff. Further details can be found on the provider’s official website.