Cognitive therapy is an empirically-supported treatment, meaning that it has been found to be effective in controlled clinical trials. In fact, cognitive therapy is the most-studied type of psychotherapy, and clinical researchers worldwide have generated robust evidence of its effectiveness for a broad and growing list of mental health problems. That means that cognitive therapy works in principle. For it to work for you, it helps to have an experienced therapist who is not only skilled in the techniques and keeping up with the research, but also committed to the deeper, conceptual approach to cognitive therapy which addresses core beliefs and dynamics. Also, remember that your effort goes a long way; this type of active, goal-focused therapy works best for people who are open to learning about themselves, do their between-session assignments, and think of therapy as a guided collaboration on their own, very important, mental health project.