How does CBT work?

CBT works by offering you a non-judgemental, collaborative and encouraging professional relationship, to support you in actively addressing your challenges, needs and goals. CBT works by increasing your awareness of both unhelpful and helpful patterns of thinking and responding to situations, and helps you in making more insightful choices that lead to the best outcomes for yourself and others. CBT also works by helping you learn new skills and strategies to handle situations, emotions and relationships creatively, constructively and competently.

Learning skills for self help

CBT teaches people skills for building relationships, handling life situations, responding to challenging scenarios and dealing with problems. These can include techniques to help you relax, get grounded and stay centred. It can include training in assertiveness, effective public speaking and communication skills that help you develop greater closeness and intimacy in personal relationships, as well as skills to help you handle disagreement and to resolve conflict. CBT can also help you learn skills to handle strong - maybe overwhelming - physical and emotional feelings, and helpfully respond to your underlying needs. You can learn skills to develop concentration, awareness and the ability to problem solve more intuitively, wisely and effectively.

Changing behaviours and beliefs

CBT works by increasing your awareness of both unhelpful and helpful patterns of thinking and responding to situations and helps you make more insightful choices with better consequences for yourself and others. Just a few examples of this (as part of a much bigger process) ...if you suffer from depression, you are likely to be helped to spot common thinking biases, and look at them more realistically to break and reverse the spiral of your mood. If you experience a lot of anxiety, worry or panic, you're likely to be assisted to notice where avoiding certain situations fans your fears. You'll then be supported to confront them in a gradual and manageable way, which will give you faith in your ability to handle situations as well as your feelings. If you have problems in relating to other people, you may learn to check out your assumptions about other people's motivation, rather than always assuming the worst. At the same time, you'd be assisted to develop a non-judgemental and compassionate understanding of what led you to develop this "better safe than sorry" thinking. Some people find that developing an entirely new attitude towards their thoughts is the most helpful thing – that thoughts are just thoughts, and nothing more!

A new form of relationship

One-to-one coaching, mentoring or therapy can bring people into a kind of relationship they may not have had before. Some people will value this experience as the most important aspect of therapy as it tends to give people the confidence, self esteem and skills to develop more empowering, authentic and mutually respectful relationships elsewhere in their lives. The 'collaborative' style means that you are actively consulted, your ideas and perspectives are genuinely sought out and your own goals and priorities are respected and considered. You are given the encouragement and empowerment to shape your own path and pace of progress. You will be supported to arrive at decisions in a mature and insightful way. You are likely to find this increases your awareness and ability of how to effectively communicate and collaborate in other relationships.

Communicating and understanding your issues and needs

You may find that you are able to reveal very personal matters, with complete confidentiality, for the first time in your life, and feel the huge relief that comes from not being judged, no longer bottling up and being helped to heal the past. CBT can help you develop an awareness of the understandable reasons behind past choices that you've later regretted, as well as recognising the deeper wisdom and courage that has emerged in you. Finding a place of compassion, forgiveness or acceptance of the past may also be deeply healing for you.