Bonita K.
Wonderful place: caring, understanding, supportive, efficient, knowledgeable and friendly staff.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in West Palm Beach
Recognize the thought, change the response, and understand where it came from.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) gives you practical tools to catch the thoughts and triggers behind substance use, anxiety and low mood. At Sunview we pair it with deeper work, so the change lasts.
What CBT Is and What It Helps With
Thoughts, feelings and actions keep feeding each other
CBT is built on a simple idea: the way you think about a situation shapes how you feel, and how you feel shapes what you do. A thought like “I can’t cope” can turn into panic, and panic into reaching for a drink or a drug. That behavior then seems to prove the thought right.
CBT helps you recognize harmful thought patterns and triggers, test them, and practice new responses. It’s a core part of relapse prevention and of treating anxiety and depression.
At Sunview, CBT is used within our PHP, IOP and OP programs, not as standalone private therapy. If you’re looking for weekly private therapy only, we’ll point you to the right place.
CBT Paired With Deeper Work
Skills alone, without looking at where a trigger started, can become a band-aid over a bullet hole. They help for a while, then stop holding. So at Sunview, CBT always travels with the question underneath: why does this trigger have so much power?
What CBT gives you
- Noticing the thought that shows up right before a craving
- Naming the triggers: people, places, feelings, times of day
- Practical coping skills and a relapse prevention plan
- New responses you can practice until they feel natural
What the deeper work adds
- Where the trigger first came from, and what it meant then
- The relationships and history that keep the pattern going
- The part of you the old response was protecting
- Insight that makes the new skills stick over time
CBT in Group and Individual Sessions
You’ll meet CBT in two places: in group, where skills get practiced with others, and in your weekly session with your primary therapist, where they get fitted to your life.
In group
Practicing with people who get it
Our groups work on the thought patterns and triggers that keep coming up, with CBT coping skills alongside DBT-based ones. Because the same facilitator leads the whole session, a skill introduced early can be tried out on a real situation before the group ends.
Group therapy at SunviewIn individual sessions
Applying it to your own patterns
In your weekly one-on-one session, your primary therapist helps you map your own triggers and the thoughts that come with them, then connect them to where they began. CBT is one tool your therapist may use, chosen for what you need.
What to expect in treatmentCBT for Co-Occurring Anxiety and Depression
Anxiety and depression are among the conditions we see most often alongside substance use. CBT gives you concrete ways to work with anxious and hopeless thinking, while the rest of your treatment looks at what keeps it going. It’s part of our dual diagnosis treatment.
Relapse Prevention in Real Life
Skills get tested at home, not in the room
Because you go home every day, you get to try what you learned right away. Then you come back and say, “I tried it, but this happened with my spouse,” or “I got triggered at work.” We slow that moment down, find the pattern and adjust the plan.
That loop is what we call In Vivo Treatment™: recovery practiced in real life, with support close by while you practice.
- 01Learn
- 02Apply
- 03Experience
- 04Process
- 05Adjust
- 06Apply again
Level of care
Where CBT Fits in Your Treatment
Part of every level of care
CBT is part of our Partial Hospitalization Program, Intensive Outpatient Program and Outpatient Program, alongside the other approaches our team uses. Our Clinical Director recommends the level that fits you.
Sunview is outpatient care.
If detox, residential treatment or housing needs to come first, we’ll help you get there and plan Sunview as your next step.
What People Say About Sunview Wellness
Matthew L.
Gabe is awesome! I have had therapists before at other practices and he is one of the most empathetic and down to earth providers I have had. The group facilitators and other staff there are very kind and helpful as well. The support to get you back onto a good mental health path is amazing. Would recommend if you want more help than just a one on one therapist but want to still go home and/or work after.
Erica S.
I just wanted to express my gratitude, every single staff was so kind and compassionate. It took me a while to actually be receptive to the things they were teaching me and trying to help me. But once I was and truly understood and was willing to help myself too it was magic. I’m grateful for them. I’d recommend them to anyone! I also would recommend for Sunview to include same sex groups at least once a week, I believe it helps common issues and resolution insight and connection a more comfortable space for the same sex to connect to each other without feeling judgement or afraid to express their opinions and experiences in front of the other sex. (In my afternoon groups was primary female and it was an amazing experience) so much props to Sunview for giving me the tools and resources to believe myself and better myself! Thank for to every staff member there!!!!
Francina U.
I came to sunview on my own and um glad I came I hot the help that I needed they were very loving and kind to me they lived me when I didn't love my self and I am grateful...
Isaiah A.
Sun view wellness is amazing place supportive come here to get the best care they take care of all your fears and worries.
Angel V.
Very helpful and attentive people who care to see you get better through your rough time in life.
CBT is one of several approaches we use, alongside IFS, DBT, inner child and psychodynamic work, and trauma-informed care. We don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. All therapy approaches.
CBT focuses on changing the thoughts and behaviors that feed a problem. DBT adds skills for staying with intense emotions and distress without acting on them. Many people use both. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).
Coping skills and relapse prevention matter, and we teach them. But on their own, without looking at where triggers began, they’re hard to sustain. That’s why we pair CBT with deeper work.
Between-session practice may be part of your plan. If it is, your therapist will talk it through with you.
It helps you notice the thoughts and situations that come before a craving and practice a different response. We work on cravings together with the patterns underneath them.
Your Community. Your Recovery.
A true outpatient model for real life. Call or send a message: we listen first, check your insurance for free, and help you work out the right level of care. Free door-to-door transportation is included.