By Stacey Butterfield
A Saturday morning session will offer a little training in cognitive behavioral therapy.
There will be an expert therapist on hand at Internal Medicine Meeting 2026, and during a Saturday morning session, she plans to share a few secrets of the trade with her medical colleagues.
"Internal medicine physicians are often managing conditions that are deeply influenced by behavior, emotion, and conditioning," said Sofia Chernoff, PsyD, MSEd, director of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) programs at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
Whether patients need to implement lifestyle changes to treat diabetes or insomnia or are struggling with chronic pain, this structured, goal-oriented form of psychotherapy can help achieve their medical objectives, Dr. Chernoff explained. During the one-hour session, she'll teach some "microskills" of CBT that can be used in internal medicine practice.
"Simple CBT strategies, like eliciting thoughts, or collaboratively setting small, realistic goals, can really make treatment plans much more actionable," she said.
Dr. Chernoff will explain the cognitive model and teach some problem-solving skills for use during office visits. "If a patient is sitting in front of [a physician] and they're ambivalent, what we can teach is very, very quick, very efficient skills that can really move the patient from point A to point B without throwing off your entire schedule," she said.
The importance of empathizing with patients to achieve behavior change will also be discussed. "Emotional and behavioral reactions will always make sense if you know what they're thinking," said Dr. Chernoff.
Attendees at this in-person-only session should be prepared to try out their new skills right away.
"We know that, as psychologists and medical providers, skill acquisition doesn't happen passively, right?" said Dr. Chernoff. "So I really hope that the potential attendees will come ready to engage and practice with our colleagues for role play. I really look forward to having a fun, engaging hour of learning with this group." ■