Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Las Vegas

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most extensively researched forms of psychotherapy. It focuses on understanding the connections between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and developing practical skills to change unhelpful patterns.

CBT has been extensively studied for a range of mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic attacks, and social anxiety. CBT-based strategies can also be helpful for concerns such as stress management, career difficulties, self-esteem, and developing more effective ways of responding to challenging situations.

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What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a structured, goal-oriented form of psychotherapy that focuses on the relationships among thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. CBT helps people identify patterns that may be contributing to distress and develop practical strategies for responding to thoughts, emotions, and situations in healthier ways.

Many of our thoughts and behavioral patterns become automatic over time. CBT can help you become more aware of these patterns, evaluate whether they are accurate or helpful, and practice new ways of thinking and responding.

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How CBT works:

Many of the treatment protocols we utilize are structured sequentially, giving you specific tools and strategies. You can expect your counselor to be a teacher, coach, and counselor at different times as you learn about CBT.

Even while there are clear protocols and interventions, the exact structure and approach has to be adjusted and tailored from person to person.

CBT approaches generally focus on the following:

Learn how CBT relates to your concerns. Your therapist may begin by helping you understand the basic principles of CBT and how patterns of thinking and behavior may relate to the concerns that brought you to therapy.
Identify challenging emotions and situations. Typically, clients have a few areas of their lives they want to change (if you do not, that is ok as well!). For example, you may be feeling very anxious about your life in general, suffering from a mental illness, having difficulty with a relationship, very stressed out with your career, or an unclear life transition.
Discover, explore, and become aware of your negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors about these problems. Once you identify several problems you want to work on, you will work with your counselor to identify various thoughts and feelings that are connected to them. This can sometimes take a few sessions, though you may already have an understanding as well. We meet you where you are.

Learn to recognize unhelpful thinking patterns. CBT can help you identify cognitive distortions—patterns of thinking that may be inaccurate, overly rigid, or unhelpful—and learn to evaluate them more effectively. Examples can include all-or-nothing thinking, catastrophizing, mind reading, overgeneralization, and mental filtering. Read our guide to cognitive distortions and unhealthy thinking patterns.
Develop healthier patterns of thinking and behavior. Becoming aware of an unhelpful pattern is only the beginning. CBT also involves practicing alternative ways of thinking and responding. Your therapist can help you evaluate thoughts, experiment with new behaviors, develop coping strategies, and apply these skills outside of therapy.

Clinically Reviewed for Accuracy | September 21, 2026 | By Philip B. Gnilka, PhD, NCC, CCMHC

Dr. Philip B. Gnilka is the founder of Havenworks Therapy Group in the Las Vegas Metro. He is a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC) and a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CCMHC). Before entering full-time private practice, he served for 12 years as a Professor of Counselor Education at Kent State, DePaul, and Virginia Commonwealth University. With over 30 peer-reviewed research publications, Dr. Gnilka bridges the gap between academic theory and real-world healing.

View Dr. Gnilka’s Full Professional Bio & Research Background