Cognitive & Behavioral Therapy

At Intentional Living, cognitive and behavioral psychotherapy (CBT) is provided for adults throughout the lifespan — for those suffering from the spectrum of mood and anxiety disorders, or for those seeking to make specific changes in their habits and ways of living. Dr. Terracciano is highly experienced in teaching people emotion and behavior regulation skills in order to improve their quality of life and achieve important goals that have become difficult to reach.

Some of the mental health conditions treated:

Depression, persistent depression, bi-polar illness
Impulsive, compulsive, and out of control behavior (shopping, sex, skin picking, binging, etc.)
Body dysmorphic disorder
Panic attacks, agoraphobia, and panic disorder
Substance misuse
Minimizing or discontinuing use of psychotropic medications (in collaboration with psychopharmacologists)
Social anxiety
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Phobias
Grief recovery
Insomnia
Behavior change (smoking cessation, exercise, mindful eating, etc.)
Decision-making and adjustment to life changing circumstances

What is CBT?

CBT is an evidence-based model of psychological treatment that understands the connections among our thoughts, actions & emotional experiences. CBT recognizes it is not the mere circumstances of our lives that cause suffering, but the way we think and behave in response to circumstances that intensify and perpetuate distress, or pull us out of vital ways of living. Most people know their life could become better if they did things differently. But the momentum gained by conditioned patterns of reactivity makes it difficult to change gears. This is where CBT shines.

Within therapy sessions, clients learn how to identify and replace self-defeating thoughts and action patterns with new ways of thinking and behaving that promote ease, flexible responding, and meaningful action. Across therapy sessions, clients practice their “intentions”, to increase skills in more effective ways of thinking, behaving, and relating to their emotions. In-depth exploration of the challenges in implementing recommended strategies leads to discoveries which fine-tune home practice activities. At Intentional Living, CBT is a collaborative and dynamic partnership that is multi-faceted. It is compassionate, kind, and patient, yet structured, flexible, progressive, purposeful, and focused on helping clients achieve their goals.

Specific Time Limited Treatments

CBT is comprised of a family of therapies. Some are broad-based and applicable to treating a wide range of difficulties, while others have been developed to treat specific mental health conditions (referred to as treatment protocols). Dr. Terracciano is steeped in more than 20 years of education, training, and direct practice experience with both broad-based CBT approaches and time-limited protocols for specific mental health conditions. He has been trained directly from the principal investigators for most of these evidence-based programs:

Behavioral Activation (BA) for Depression
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for depressive relapse prevention
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
CBT for BDD (Body Dismorphic Disorder)
Panic Control Treatment for Panic Disorder and/or Agoraphobia
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Complicated Grief
CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I)

How Do I Get Started?

The initial consultation launches our engagement process. In this meeting, your needs and goals are identified. An additional 2–3 sessions are used to complete a biopsychosocial assessment — a comprehensive interview with some questionnaires. This helps me understand you as a whole person and to understand your struggles or concerns in the context of all areas of functioning, including the strengths you bring to your concerns. A treatment planning session is held when the assessment is complete and recommendations are made on a course of therapy. Particular CBT techniques are described as to how they effectively address your concerns. At the conclusion of working together, methods to preserve gains so problems don't return are also identified. Clients are collaboratively involved in all phases of therapy.

Fees

Fees vary based on type and duration of service. Please contact Intentional Living to learn more about the fees for the services that interest you.