CBT for Hope

According to the American Psychological Association hope is an emotion as well as a character strength, an important component of motivation, a support structure in the face of significant stresses, or a combination of all the above. Research has indicated that a state of wellbeing is more likely to be experienced by individuals who are more hopeful. This may be in part due to the view individuals take of stressful situations as challenging rather than threatening, which reduces the intensity and increase of stress.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (or CBT) teaches people to reframe the experience of stress in a more helpful way. In CBT, clients learn not to believe everything their mind tells them. Part of CBT is to have clients do behavioral experiments to gather evidence in support of thoughts and behaviors that are more supportive of our ultimate visions of how we want to live. Any time we identify an area for growth or change in our lives, we are in contact with hope.

Hope can be an emotion that drives change. When we hope for things to be better, and clearly define what ‘better’ looks like in our daily life, we can then identify the action steps. The vision inspired by hope provides the road map for us to follow. It also expands our thinking to what else might be possible. Psychologist and hope researcher Charles Snyder says, “A rainbow is a prism that sends shards of multicolored light in various directions. It lifts our spirits and makes us think of what is possible. Hope is the same—a personal rainbow of the mind.”

-Jenn Altman, Ph.D.