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There's the classic joke where someone goes to the doctor and says "it hurts when I do this", and the doctor says "well don't do that then".

Cognitive behavioral therapy is basically the same thing but it boils down to: "it feels bad when I think about this" / "well don't think about that then".

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It's more like a thing gives a patient unbearable anxiety and makes them feel like they have no control. CBT helps them put that thing in perspective, and actively control how they respond to it before it winds out of control.

Is it really about never thinking those things, or is it about training yourself to have the ability to turn those thoughts off when you want to?

Like meditation is about not thinking, but it doesn't mean you try to never have a though again... it just means you have a degree of control over when you put gas on that fire and when you let it burn down.

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