Matthew Lindgren
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
Oakland Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Therapist
Matthew Lindgren is a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) therapist who helps adults and children in Oakland.
- What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?
- Cognitive Therapy - Changing Thoughts
- Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy in Oakland
- Behavioral Therapy in Oakland
- CBT and EMDR Therapy in Oakland
- CBT and Child Therapy in Oakland
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?
Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, refers to a set of therapeutic techniques that emphasize changes in behavior and thoughts. If you're read a self-help book, chances are that the author suggested several CBT techniques, because many CBT techniques lend themselves to "work" that you can on your own. It is very common to do "homework" when doing CBT.
A central premise behind CBT is that you can train yourself, and others, to alleviate symptoms or reach goals. CBT is widely used to coach and train atheletes, as well as military and police workers. CBT offers an excellent method of training children, as it focuses on rewards and changing behavior. A great many "personal coaches" are trained to exclusively use CBT techniques with their clients.
CBT works very well to treat anger problems, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias - including social phobias, and PTSD.
Cognitive Therapy - Changing Thoughts
The cognitive part of CBT focuses on changing thought patterns, with the idea that one's mood and feeling follow. For example, I might spend some time with you to identify "schema", or persistent thoughts that shape your sense of who you are, the world, and your sense of the future.
I find that when people have been through bad experiences, they sometime learn thoughts that might feel true, but that they know are not factually true. We call these thoughts "negative schema", because they show a distortion in thinking. Common negative schema include statements like "I am unlovable", or "I am worthless". It can be very powerful to help someone change these beliefs.
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy in Oakland
An exciting aspect about cognitive therapy is the idea of observing thoughts and emotions. This has led to a whole new field called mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT/MBCBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR). In these techinques, people learn to use meditation techniques to observe their thoughts and emotions.
Simply taking the time to observe thoughts and emotions is often enough to create a radical shift. Research shows that mindfulness interventions are particularly good at treating depression. I am happy to offer these interventions to adults and children in my Oakland therapy practice.
Make sure to see my page about mindfulness based therapy.
Behavioral Therapy in Oakland
Behavioral therapy works on changing both behavior as well as physiological responses. It works extremely well to treat anger problems, anxiety disorders and PTSD, panic attacks, and phobias, including social anxiety. Some of the techniques involve progressive relaxation that you can learn to pair with something that you find frightening, so that over time the frightening event no longer causes fear. Other techniques involve slow and gradual introduction of frightening information so that the person slowly learns to master and work through fear.
As a somatic therapist, I am very excited to work with clients using behavioral therapy in Oakland. I find that somatic therapy really is behavioral, and the training I have in working with your physiology to process emotions works very well with behavioral interventions.
CBT and EMDR Therapy in Oakland
EMDR is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy that focuses specifically on treating trauma and PTSD. It also works very well fo anger management, anxiety, phobias, social anxiety, depression, as well as for performance coaching. To learn more about the EMDR techniques I offer in Oakland, see my EMDR page.
CBT and Child Therapy in Oakland
CBT is used extensively with children to help change behavoral patterns, as well as to directly treat mental health symptoms.
When working with children in Oakland, I will often meet separately with parents or caretakers when there are behavioral concerns to work out a plan of action, which I work with the parents to implement. Some behaviors that work well with CBT include oppositional and defiant children, children of divorce, bed-wetting, soiling or wetting pants, and bullying.
I also use CBT interventions directly in session to help children work through symptoms of PTSD, trauma, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, separation anxiety, and social phobia. With younger children, I often combine CBT interventions with storytelling, art therapy, or games.
Schedule an appointment today to bring you child to see me in Oakland.
Call 415-820-1487 for a free phone consultation.