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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Techniques for Teens: Simple Strategies to Try at Home

Author:
Jemma Strain
Jemma Strain
B.S. Psychology
Editor:
Emma Loker
Emma Loker
B.S.
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When learning a new skill, practice makes perfect. So it makes sense that practicing cognitive behavioral therapy techniques for teens at home can improve the therapy’s success in treating teen mental health conditions.1 

Despite the benefits of practicing CBT techniques at home, teens are often faced with certain challenges when doing so. For instance, they might not know the right techniques to try, lack motivation, or feel like they don’t have enough time. 

If you don’t know where to start with practicing cognitive behavioral therapy at home, a mental health professional can create a suitable CBT “homework” package for you. This article can also work as a useful guide, as it discusses:

  • What CBT for teens is
  • The core principles of teen CBT techniques
  • How to practice cognitive behavioral therapy at home
  • CBT strategies for anxiety
  • CBT for teenage depression
  • How Mission Prep can improve teen mental health with CBT
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Techniques for Teens

What Is CBT for Teens?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for teens is a structured, short form of psychotherapy. This means that it uses talking to treat mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. CBT for teens works by helping them make connections between their thoughts, feelings, and actions. By making these connections, a teen can pinpoint inaccurate ways of thinking and take steps to improve how they feel and handle challenging situations. 

CBT for teens has a strong evidence base, with studies showing that it works to treat the symptoms of issues such as anxiety, depression, and stress. Specifically, one study examining the effects of CBT on teen depression found that it reduces symptoms and limits the risk of relapse. Additionally, research also shows that CBT can significantly reduce the impact of anxiety on teens, leading many of those who receive treatment to be free of their diagnosis at follow-up appointments.2,3 

But do you have to sign up for therapy to benefit from teen CBT techniques? Not necessarily. While CBT is normally delivered by a trained mental health professional – and the greatest benefits are gotten through this approach – it is possible to practice certain CBT techniques at home.  

We discuss home strategies for teen mental health later in this article. First, it may help to understand the core principles of teen CBT techniques and how it works. 

Core Principles of Teen CBT Techniques

There are many core principles of CBT that drive its success in treating teen mental health conditions. Perhaps the most important of these principles is the importance of a strong relationship between a therapist and a client. A good foundation of trust in this relationship allows a teen to open up, see things from different perspectives, and grow in their ability to manage stress.4 

However, CBT also has other principles that allow it to be practiced at home. These core principles include: 
  • Focusing on the “here and now”: CBT primarily targets teens’ current thoughts, feelings, and actions, meaning they can understand that how they feel in the present affects how they behave.
  • Goal-orientation: CBT focuses on helping teens pinpoint goals for their recovery. For instance, in an initial therapy session, a teen might mention that they feel overwhelmed in social groups. In this instance, a goal for recovery might be “Spending more time with others.”
  • Empowering a teen outside of therapy: Another CBT aim is to enable the teen to become their own therapist by completing “homework” activities outside of sessions. These activities enhance the benefits of therapy and can prolong its effects. 
  • Pulling from different techniques to improve emotions and actions: Each teenager’s needs, symptoms, and experiences vary, so a “one-size-fits-all” technique doesn’t work. For this reason, CBT pulls from various therapies to help them challenge inaccurate ways of thinking and develop healthy ways of coping with challenges.

These core principles are only a snapshot of how CBT works, but they can help give you or your child an understanding of how CBT can be practiced at home. If you would like a more in-depth overview of how CBT could work for you, a mental health professional can talk you through this in detail. 

Practicing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at Home

CBT can easily be built into your life to help you manage negative thoughts, feelings, and actions. Mission Prep offers CBT for a wide range of mental health conditions and adapts each therapy package to suit each person’s unique needs. However, we also help teens practice CBT techniques at home to enhance their recovery outcomes. Some of these techniques include the following. 

Identifying Triggers: 

Often, the first step in practicing cognitive behavioral therapy at home involves identifying the things that cause you to feel, think, and act in negative ways. One of the best ways to spot a trigger is to recognize your thoughts and feelings in response to certain situations. You can do this by paying close attention to emotional reactions and behaviors. Journaling is a useful way of detecting patterns and themes, which can help you figure out situations and events that trigger negative reactions. 

Cognitive Restructuring: 

Cognitive restructuring helps teens pinpoint and replace unhelpful thoughts or beliefs that contribute to mental health conditions. This technique teaches teenagers to look at their thoughts from different angles and find errors in their ways of thinking. Once they can see how thoughts and beliefs could be inaccurate, cognitive restructuring helps them replace these with more accurate or positive ones. For instance, through using cognitive restructuring, a teen can learn to shift from a belief such as, I’m not as likable as other people to I have a good group of friends. Clearly I’m a likeable and good person.

Often, we don’t notice thoughts as they pass through our minds. Therefore, the steps to cognitive restructuring include: 

  • Identifying thoughts: Paying attention to or tracking thoughts can help you become more aware of them. For example, if you’re taking a test, you might notice the thought, I always fail 
  • Challenging thoughts: This involves testing thoughts against the reality of the situation. For instance, in the case of the example provided, you might focus on times you performed well on a test
  • Replacing thoughts: This step requires putting a more accurate alternative thought in place. Again, using the same example, you might replace the original thought with When I’ve studied in the past, I’ve done well on exams. I’ve prepared for this, so there’s no reason to think I won’t do well

With time and practice, cognitive restructuring can become automatic, reducing the impact of mental health conditions. 

Goal Setting: 

An important step in recovery from any mental health condition is highlighting goals for recovery. Goals are unique to every teen. For instance, one person might have a goal to feel happier, while another may want to reduce stress. When practicing cognitive behavioral therapy at home, a teen can use a SMART goal format. In other words, they would make their goals…

  • Specific: Clearly define what your goal for recovery is
  • Measurable: How do you plan to track your progress? For example, by tracking negative thoughts or positive moods. 
  • Achievable: Is your goal possible to achieve in a certain time frame? Can it be broken down into smaller steps?
  • Realistic: Make sure your goal is attainable. For example, it may not be realistic to completely eliminate stress in a month. 
  • Time-specific: Set yourself a realistic timeframe for achieving your goal to boost motivation 

CBT Strategies for Anxiety

Anxiety disorders can lead to feelings of intense worry about the past, present, and future and can affect a teenager’s quality of life and well-being. According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, nearly 32% of teenagers have an anxiety disorder. Plus, when anxiety goes untreated, teens are more likely to perform poorly at school and miss out on important bonding experiences. 

CBT is often the first port of call when treating anxiety disorders, especially through the use of exposure, relaxation, and mindfulness.5 

The techniques discussed above (cognitive restructuring and goal setting) are very useful when practicing cognitive behavioral therapy at home for anxiety. The following teen CBT techniques can also help. 

Relaxation Techniques: 

Relaxation techniques have become increasingly popular in the last decade and are commonly used in CBT for treating anxiety as they help trigger the body’s “relaxation response.”6 

They’re also perhaps one of the easiest CBT techniques to practice at home, as there are many different types that can be experimented with to find one that works best. 

For instance, the following relaxation techniques can help improve the symptoms of anxiety:

  • Breathing exercises:     As the name suggests, breathing exercises require focusing on your breath. For example, you could try diaphragmatic breathing, which involves placing a hand on your belly and noticing how it rises and falls when you take deep breaths.
  • Progressive muscle relaxation: This involves tensing different muscles or groups of muscles in your body and relaxing them, noticing how different sensations feel. 
  • Guided Imagery: Picturing or imagining relaxing scenes, pictures, objects, or events can create calm feelings in the body and reduce anxiety. 

Exposure: 

Exposure is a technique that helps teens face the things they worry about in a controlled and safe way – and it’s been proven to help reduce the symptoms of anxiety.7 A therapist can help you create an exposure program for breaking avoidance of certain situations, objects, or activities, which you can practice at home. 

This exposure program can look like:

  • Imagining feared scenarios:     Exposure often starts with visualizations, which involve imagining yourself in situations you fear. For instance, if you have social anxiety, you might imagine yourself giving a speech to a group of people.
  • Gradual exposure: This involves making a phased plan to confront situations that create anxiety for you. For example, you could plan to spend one minute in a situation that makes you feel anxious, then build up to five minutes, then ten, and so on. You can also create a fear hierarchy for this approach, ranking feared situations or scenarios according to what creates the least anxiety and building up to those that produce the most. 
  • Systematic desensitization: This approach combines exposure with relaxation exercises to help you feel more capable of handling feared scenarios. This way, you can reprogram your brain to associate previously anxiety-inducing scenarios with more positive feelings. 

By continuing to face the things that cause you to feel anxious, you can learn that the things you worry about happening aren’t as bad as you expected. In turn, this approach can lead to reduced symptoms of anxiety. 

CBT for Teenage Depression

Depression in teens can lead to intense feelings of hopelessness and fatigue, as well as loss of interest in activities and socializing. What’s more, over 20% of teenagers aged between 12 and 17 in the U.S. have reported experiencing at least one depressive episode.8 

CBT for teenage depression is frequently the first choice of treatment, and yields positive results – especially when used to target thoughts and practiced at home.9 The identifying triggers and cognitive restructuring techniques we covered earlier are important CBT techniques for managing depression. Other useful CBT for teenage depression techniques include the following. 

Mindfulness: 

Mindfulness encourages teenagers to focus on the present moment, easing the burden of hopelessness and depressive thoughts. Additionally, studies have shown that mindfulness techniques can improve depression in people from a variety of backgrounds.10 

There are many ways to practice mindfulness, from simply paying attention to surroundings to trying more structured exercises. For instance, you could try a body scan meditation by lying on your back with your arms by your side and palms facing up. Focus your attention on how the different parts of your body feel and try to connect various sensations, emotions, or thoughts with these areas of your body. 

ABC Analysis:

An ABC analysis is a technique that can help teens challenge their outlook and reactions to triggers, as well as restructure these in healthy ways. During the analysis, you observe and record the things that happen that lead to a low mood.

“ABC” refers to the different elements of the model:

  • “A” – Activating event:     What happens before you start to feel a certain way
  • “B” – Beliefs about the event: Paying attention to thoughts or beliefs you have about the event
  • “C” – Consequences of the event: What your emotions and actions around the event are

By spending time exploring these three factors, you can start to better understand the causes or triggers of your depression and manage them in healthy ways.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Techniques for Teens: Simple Strategies to Try at Home

Mission Prep: Improving Teen Mental Health With CBT

CBT is a cornerstone in treating teen mental health conditions, empowering teens to regain control over their thoughts, feelings, actions, and future. 

At Mission Prep, we integrate CBT into our residential and outpatient treatment programs to give teenagers the skillset to navigate life’s challenges, recover, and thrive. We also offer teens the chance to share experiences and learn from each other in our group-based CBT programs. Additionally, for those who need more flexible approaches to their mental health care, our online CBT programs and telehealth options allow teens to benefit from CBT techniques in the comfort of their own homes. 

Mission Prep has a long-standing success rate in helping teenagers overcome mental health issues through the use of CBT, empowering them to overcome their struggles and develop lasting coping skills. If you would like to learn more about our treatment programs or locations, contact our team today to find out more. 

 

References

  1. Klein, A. M., Hagen, A., Mobach, L., Zimmermann, R., D Baartmans, J. M., Rahemenia, J., Schneider, S., & Ollendick, T. H. (2024). The Importance of Practicing at Home During and Following Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Childhood Anxiety Disorders: A Conceptual Review and New Directions to Enhance Homework Using Mhealth Technology. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 27(2), 602. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-024-00476-5
  2. Hofmann, S. G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I. J., Sawyer, A. T., & Fang, A. (2012). The Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Review of Meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(5), 427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-012-9476-1
  3. Seligman, L. D., & Ollendick, T. H. (2011). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Disorders in Youth. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 20(2), 217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2011.01.003
  4. Fenn, M., & Byrne, D. (2013). The key principles of cognitive behavioural therapy. InnovAiT. https://doi.org/10.1177/1755738012471029
  5. Kaczkurkin, A. N., & Foa, E. B. (2015). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders: An update on the empirical evidence. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 17(3), 337. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2015.17.3/akaczkurkin
  6. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. (n.d.). Relaxation techniques: What you need to know. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/relaxation-techniques-what-you-need-to-know
  7. American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Exposure therapy. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/exposure-therapy​:contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
  8. National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Major depression. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression
  9. Oud, M., de Winter, L., Vermeulen-Smit, E., Bodden, D., Nauta, M., Stone, L., van den Heuvel, M., Taher, R. A., de Graaf, I., Kendall, T., Engels, R., & Stikkelbroek, Y. (2019). Effectiveness of CBT for children and adolescents with depression: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis. European Psychiatry, 57, 33–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2018.12.008
  10. Hofmann, S. G., & Gómez, A. F. (2017). Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Anxiety and Depression. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 40(4), 739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2017.08.008

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