EDIT: Sorry, I misunderstood your comment, I thought you were GGP saying that "it's all in your head" is better than CBT. Leaving my original response below.
Sure, but someone with crippling anxiety could easily counter your with any of these:
* I was assaulted when I was 17 so of course I could do things more easily when I was 15.
* I feel physical symptoms of anxiety when I am around others so it's not just in my mind.
* I am a fundamentally worse person than average and do not deserve to be around other people.
* I don't care about what others can do, I would rather die than walk through a crowd.
CBT tries to meet people where they are, acknowledge them, and then give them the tools to move in a healty direction. Kinda like this:
"I know you are afraid of walking through a crowd of people. I want you to imagine walking through the crowd, and tell me what you think and feel.
OK, so you feel physically ill, and you feel like there are bugs on your skin, and you imagine people around you are talking about you. Let's acknowledge that's how you feel.
Now, let's look at this logically. Do you accept that it's unlikely that anyone is actually talking about you? Can you touch your skin, confirm there are no bugs? And, finally, do you understand that your nausea, whilst real, is likely a physical symptom of anxiety following from the other two things, so if we work on the anxiety then the nausea will subside too?
Great. So we've acknowledged how you feel, and we've acknowledged that what you are feeling is driven by anxiety moreso than reality, and we agree that it's possible for you to overcome. It's OK if that doesn't immediately resolve your fear, but next time you are near a crowd, I want you to think about what we talked about before you decide to avoid the crowd."
This is proven to be more likely to help people. If your smug "IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD" solution worked, then plenty of kids with mental issues would have been magically cured when their parents said that exact phrase to them.
One’s beliefs and feelings won’t be rational but the overall functioning of your brain is mostly reasonable when you know enough about your self, your past, and your brain. The task of building a fulfilling life with the nervous system you actually have is not trivial but also not impossible.
Sure, but someone with crippling anxiety could easily counter your with any of these:
* I was assaulted when I was 17 so of course I could do things more easily when I was 15.
* I feel physical symptoms of anxiety when I am around others so it's not just in my mind.
* I am a fundamentally worse person than average and do not deserve to be around other people.
* I don't care about what others can do, I would rather die than walk through a crowd.
CBT tries to meet people where they are, acknowledge them, and then give them the tools to move in a healty direction. Kinda like this:
"I know you are afraid of walking through a crowd of people. I want you to imagine walking through the crowd, and tell me what you think and feel.
OK, so you feel physically ill, and you feel like there are bugs on your skin, and you imagine people around you are talking about you. Let's acknowledge that's how you feel.
Now, let's look at this logically. Do you accept that it's unlikely that anyone is actually talking about you? Can you touch your skin, confirm there are no bugs? And, finally, do you understand that your nausea, whilst real, is likely a physical symptom of anxiety following from the other two things, so if we work on the anxiety then the nausea will subside too?
Great. So we've acknowledged how you feel, and we've acknowledged that what you are feeling is driven by anxiety moreso than reality, and we agree that it's possible for you to overcome. It's OK if that doesn't immediately resolve your fear, but next time you are near a crowd, I want you to think about what we talked about before you decide to avoid the crowd."
This is proven to be more likely to help people. If your smug "IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD" solution worked, then plenty of kids with mental issues would have been magically cured when their parents said that exact phrase to them.