I'm someone who has benefitted from this kind of work (and my issues were not simple or surface -- significant trauma and PTSD), but I do think these skills are presented so often in an overly-simplified, short-term way when, in actuality, it takes a great deal of constant work and time to get to the point where it becomes an internalized and truly helpful skill. The problem is that it gets taught as a "do this, do that, and it will be all better" skill when that really isn't the case.

What worked for me was learning those skills alongside with other types of therapy so that I was working through my history and understanding where those negative thoughts originated and working through that initial trauma/wound/event. Once I truly had looked at and worked through the origination of those thoughts (often deeply ingrained self-talk), only then was I truly able to successfully challenge those negative thoughts. Without doing that deeper work, challenging those thoughts would seem more like trying to put a bandaid on a gaping wound.

I will say that now that I have done that deeper therapy work, those CBT/REBT skills are the tools I carried out of therapy with me and I use them EVERY SINGLE DAY now. Long-term, they have been the tools/skills that have most continued to help me maintain stability and move forward with my life. However, it took me years to truly get to a place where I could internalize those skills so they didn't feel forced and surface.

I think therapists and systems that present CBT skills as a short-term solution are, as others have said, using those skills for shorter-term goals. They CAN be used for more complicated issues; however, I personally think they have to be used in conjunction with other therapies and not be misrepresented as a quick fix -- they aren't that simple.

The shame is that these skills are misrepresented and misused that way by (in my opinion) rather unskilled therapists, and that leaves clients feeling like they are being treated without depth, without respect for their experience, feelings, and intellect, and without any effective results, so they give up on the skills entirely, when, if worked on differently, they might would actually realize those skills have true long-term benefit.