Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in NYC
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a structured, evidence-based psychotherapy that teaches you to catch the thoughts driving your symptoms, test them, and change them. It's the most studied talk therapy in psychiatry and a first-line treatment for anxiety, depression, OCD, and adult ADHD. Our Manhattan practice offers CBT therapy as part of one coordinated plan.
- In-person · Manhattan
- Telehealth · New York
Start with an assessment
Short, private check-ins that help you put words to what you're noticing before your first conversation.
Child ADHD
A check on a child's focus, follow-through, and emotional reactions.
Adult ADHD
A check on focus, organization, and follow-through in adults.
Anxiety
A check on worry, tension, and how much they shape your days.
Depression
A check on mood, energy, and interest in everyday life.
Our clinicians are affiliated with
What is CBT and Who Does it Help
CBT was developed by psychiatrist Aaron Beck in the 1960s and is the most studied form of talk therapy in existence. Its core insight is that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors aren't separate systems but a single loop: a situation triggers an automatic thought, the thought produces a feeling, the feeling drives a behavior, and the behavior confirms the thought next time around. CBT teaches you to step into that loop where it's most flexible and rebuild the sequence. Evidence is strongest for anxiety, depression, OCD (through exposure and response prevention), adult ADHD, chronic insomnia, and trauma.
The short version
- CBT is a first-line, gold-standard psychotherapy for anxiety, depression, OCD, and adult ADHD, backed by decades of research.
- It works on one principle: thoughts, feelings, and behaviors form a loop, and changing the thought changes the rest.
- Treatment is active and time-limited: you get homework, practice between sessions, and clear progress checkpoints, not open-ended talk.
- At Integrative Psych, one clinician delivers your CBT and manages your medication in a single plan, so the two are coordinated from the start.
You're likely a strong fit
CBT is a skill set, not a vibe. You're likely a strong fit if several of these sound familiar:
- You can watch your thought spirals happen and still can't stop them.
- Small events trigger reactions that feel out of scale to what happened.
- You've done talk therapy, gained insight, and watched nothing change day to day.
- You avoid situations because the anticipation alone is exhausting.
- You procrastinate on work you care about, then punish yourself for procrastinating.
- You want homework and structure, not just a place to talk.
The evidence behind CBT
psychotherapy for anxiety (Bhattacharya et al., Current Psychiatry Reports, 2022)
for PTSD, alongside cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure (APA PTSD Clinical Practice Guideline)
for depression and anxiety across dozens of randomized trials (meta-analysis, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2023)
How CBT Works and What to Expect
CBT runs on a repeatable five-step sequence. You practice it in session and on your own until it becomes automatic:
Identify the situation
The specific moment, not the whole week: "the 9:47am email from my manager."
Catch the automatic thought
What your brain said in the split second before the feeling arrived. On paper it almost always looks smaller than it felt.
Check the evidence
What supports the thought, what contradicts it. The question is whether it's accurate, not whether it's positive.
Build a balanced alternative
A replacement that's both truer and more useful: an actual sentence, not a mantra.
Take the behavioral step
Do what the thought was stopping you from doing, collect new evidence, and update the loop.
In a session, the structure is predictable after the first few weeks. You start with a brief mood check using validated measures, review the week's homework, set an agenda together, work through the middle (thought records, behavioral experiments, exposure, skills practice), and leave with a concrete plan. Sessions run 30 to 90 minutes depending on the work that day, and by the end of treatment you're running the process on your own.
CBT at Integrative Psych
At Integrative Psych, CBT works best because it's coordinated with the rest of your care. One board-certified clinician delivers your CBT and manages your medication and lifestyle plan together, in a single plan. That matters because most of the conditions CBT treats best also respond to well-matched medication. There's no handoff between a separate therapist and prescriber; one person adjusts both as your case unfolds.
That coordination starts before your first session with the Sigmund Assessment, a structured evaluation your clinician reviews beforehand that maps what's driving your symptoms, so your clinician arrives already understanding your case. We then match you on clinical fit and communication style, not the next open slot. The practice houses clinicians affiliated with the National Institutes of Health, Columbia University, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and you can explore the research if you want to look deeper. Care is available in person at our Manhattan office and by telehealth anywhere in New York State.
Clinicians who provide CBT
Board-certified psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners. The practice houses clinicians affiliated with NIH, Columbia, and New York-Presbyterian.
What Patients Say
Insurance and Billing
Integrative Psych is an out-of-network practice. You pay at the time of service and receive a monthly superbill to submit to your insurer for potential out-of-network reimbursement. Many PPO plans reimburse a portion, and your insurer is the best source for what your specific plan covers. To check yours, call the number on your card and ask about out-of-network reimbursement for outpatient psychiatric evaluations, follow-up visits, and therapy.
Billing, simply
- Out-of-network; you pay at the time of service.
- Monthly superbill provided for reimbursement.
- Many PPO plans reimburse a portion of out-of-network care.
- Call the number on your card to confirm your benefits.
Frequently Asked Questions About CBT
How do I know if CBT is the right treatment for me?
CBT fits people whose symptoms are driven by identifiable thought patterns and avoidance: anxiety, depression, OCD, adult ADHD, insomnia, and PTSD. It's less of a fit if you're looking for open-ended exploration of early-life patterns. The clearest signal is simple: you've gained insight from past therapy, but your day-to-day behavior hasn't changed.
What are the core steps of cognitive behavioral therapy?
Five. You identify the triggering situation, catch the automatic thought that followed, check the evidence for and against it, build a more accurate and useful alternative, and take a behavioral step that tests the new thought. You practice the sequence in session and between sessions until it runs on its own. That repetition is the mechanism.
How long does a course of CBT typically last?
Most protocols run 12 to 20 weekly sessions, with meaningful symptom shifts within 6 to 10 weeks. Complex or co-occurring cases can run longer. Your clinician sets checkpoints with validated measures, so you can track progress throughout, not just at the end. Sessions run 30 to 90 minutes depending on the work.
Is CBT effective for adult ADHD?
Yes. CBT doesn't replace ADHD medication; it targets the executive-function gaps medication can't fully reach: procrastination, time blindness, organization, and the self-criticism that builds around them. For most adults, well-matched medication paired with CBT works better than either alone. See our adult ADHD treatment page.
Can CBT be combined with medication?
Yes, and for many conditions the combination outperforms either alone. At Integrative Psych, your CBT and your medication management are handled by one clinician in a single plan, so one person can adjust your medication around what therapy surfaces, and adjust your therapy around how the medication is working.
How is CBT different from DBT?
CBT targets the thoughts and behaviors behind a specific symptom and is first-line for anxiety, depression, and OCD. DBT builds on CBT with a heavier focus on emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal skills, and fits intense emotional swings or self-harm better. Your clinician recommends the better match during your evaluation, and the two can be combined.
Where can I find CBT therapy near me in NYC?
Our office is at 80 8th Ave in Manhattan, where we offer CBT in person. We also offer it by telehealth anywhere in New York State, and clinical trials show telehealth CBT is roughly as effective as in-person CBT for anxiety, depression, OCD, and insomnia.
Start Here
Whether anxiety is running your workday, depression has you stuck, or the ADHD loop is eating your attention, there's a structured path forward. We'll find what's driving your symptoms and match you with the right clinician. Appointments are in person at our Manhattan office or by telehealth anywhere in New York State.