What is CBT?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) describes a number of therapies that all have a similar approach to solving problems, which can range from issues that most people have probably at some point experienced, such as; relationship difficulties; negative body image and a lack of confidence; stress and overwork or unhappiness, and worry about life in general....to issues that if you face, you may feel very isolated and alone with, such as; depression; panic; phobia; obsessions; addictions; rage or self harm.

CBT works by helping you become aware of patterns of thinking or behaviour that are contributing to your difficulties, and by helping you change your actions and attitudes...and so change the way you feel about yourself, life and other people. CBT is about helping you act in your own best interest rather than unintentionally against yourself.

CBT has a highly practical approach to problem solving. It is designed to enable you to respond to life's challenges with wisdom, resourcefulness and confidence. This is why it's also a very effective model for Coaching and Mentoring, which you may wish to go on to do after therapy, or right from the start, depending on your goals and needs.

Read more about CBT's effectiveness in Coaching and Mentoring

Founded on research

An important advantage of CBT compared to many other forms of therapy is that it is very solidly based in research into what treatments actually work and what strategies work best for whom. As a professional body, CBT has thousands of researchers working internationally to continue to improve psychological treatments, and design new ones that offer the most immediate and long term effectiveness for specific goals and problems -from relatively straightforward to very complex issues. Cognitive Behavioural Therapists must demonstrate their commitment to keeping themselves thoroughly informed of research developments and have strict requirements to keep their training up to date in the most contemporary and effective interventions for whatever client issues they are working with.

A shorter time period for effective outcomes

Another important advantage of CBT is that it tends to be much shorter than most other psychological therapies, taking three to six months (sometimes much less and sometimes more) for most emotional problems, whereas many other talking therapies require a commitment of up to several years. During this time, you'd be working with a strong sense of non-judgemental and encouraging collaboration to understand what the problems are, and to develop a new strategy for tackling them. CBT can introduce you to a set of principles that you can apply whenever you need to, which will stand you in good stead throughout your life.

Replacing unhelpful thinking and reactions with wise responses

Clearly, negative things can and do happen. But when we are in an agitated state of mind, we may be basing our predictions and interpretations on a biased view of the situation, making the difficulty that we face seem even worse. Our thoughts can block us from seeing a balanced or bigger perspective. As a consequence, we may keep on over-reacting or avoid dealing with the challenging situations we face, which in turn makes them appear -and us feel - even worse. You may be able to relate to the following example....

You wake up with a sinking feeling and start thinking "I can't face going into work today: I'm being expected to do far too much. I just can't cope with it. I'll feel awful." As a result of believing these thoughts - and going over and over them in your mind – you do feel pretty bad and decide to ring in sick. By reacting to your thoughts like this, you miss out on the chance to practice other ways of responding to work stress that will serve you better longer term and to discover your resourcefulness. Had you gone in to work, decided to say no to some things, and ask for assistance with others - which CBT would encourage you to do - you may have learnt that your manager respected your assertiveness and that your team was happy to help you.

But, instead, because you stayed at home, you brood about your "failure", get really self critical and end up feeling guilty, ashamed, angry and anxious - by telling yourself "I've let everyone down. How pathetic. Why can't I do what everyone else does? I'm so useless. what if others find out what a fraud I am'". And as a result you have even more difficulty going in to work the next day. Thinking, behaving and feeling like this may start a downward spiral. This vicious circle can apply to many different kinds of problems.

How does this kind of problem start?

From a CBT perspective, these thinking patterns are usually set up in childhood, and until we learn to change them, become automatic, and relatively fixed. So, if as a child you didn't get much open affection from your parents, but was praised for school work, you might come to think:"I have got to do well all the time. If I don't, people will see me as inadequate and reject me." 

Such a rule for living may help you to work hard and therefore seem to serve you ok. But if something happens that's beyond your control - like the credit crunch - and you are made redundant, the unhelpful aspect of this thought pattern may be triggered, and you may interpret the redundancy to mean a personal failure.

You may then begin to feel very depressed, due to self attacking and condemnatory thoughts such as "I've completely failed. Everyone else will think I'm a looser. I can't face anyone. They'll not want to associate themselves with me anyway" and so cut yourself off from your family and friends, who then start to drift away.

How can CBT help?

CBT helps you understand that this is what's going on. It helps you step outside your unhelpful thoughts and, rather than completely buy in to them; look to see if they are in some way biased. For example, CBT encourages you to compassionately consider whether you are perhaps magnifying your shortcomings and minimising your strengths; jumping to the most catastrophic conclusions about your situation; or mind reading others and making assumptions. CBT encourages you to correct these misinterpretations, by helping you to view things from a variety of different perspectives and take into account information you may be ignoring or not have realised. For example, CBT may support you in having the courage to actually ask people for their feedback, rather than trying to second guess their opinions. 

CBT teaches you how be your own wise advisor rather than your own worst enemy. Rather than being like a critical judge and biased jury, CBT helps you learn to be your own compassionate friend and encouraging supporter to yourself - and to others.
Being a helpful coach to yourself is often about recognising and following through your own common sense with sound action that restores your sense of control, and leads to positive responses from others. CBT can help you move from feeling frozen by overwhelming responsibility to an empowered sense of response-ability...and from feeling like you're going nowhere to now-here: being more present and alive to the richness of life and to your gifts.