What actually is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?
Simply speaking it’s a way of challenging and changing your thought processes. Think about it, have you ever noticed how a thought process causes a feeling process ? For instance say, you have a Dentists appointment coming up and you don’t like going. That ‘thought’about going to the dentist actually makes you feel in a particular way, maybe nervous or anxious, pretty soon you are getting butterflies in your stomach. So you can see how thoughts make you feel in a particular way. On the other side of the coin those thoughts can actually make you feel good, perhaps a friend might say to you what a nice person you are – and it makes you feel good about yourself. So thoughts therefore actually cause feelings. So, simply speaking Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) helps to change your thought processes, from negative to positive. You can see from the two examples I’ve given that if we think positively we tend to feel happy. Therefore when using CBT I help to change your outlook on yourself, your life and the world around you.
CBT works so well that the British Government has put its weight behind it and has called for the training of some 10,000 new therapists in the field, because at any one time, one in six adults experiences a mental health problem - more than will suffer from cancer or heart disease - and many of these suffer from more common problems such as anxiety or depression. Clinical evidence shows that better access to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can help cure depression and reduce time off work due to ill health. Patients also prefer talking therapy, rather than being dependent on medication alone – which treats the symptom and not the cause
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy was developed by Aaron T. Beck, M.D., who graduated from Brown University and Yale Medical School. Dr Beck originated CBT in the early 1960s when he was a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania. He was, originally, a psychoanalyst carrying out research, testing psychoanalytic ideas for depression. Whilst working upon his concepts, he felt that his research could well verify the ideas of psychoanalysis but apparently surprised to find the reverse. From that point he began searching for different ways of relieving depression which led him to working with depressed clients. Whilst studying the depressed clients, he discovered they experienced a succession of negative thoughts that arose quite unexpectedly. These he called ‘automatic thoughts’. Dr Beck also realised that these ‘thoughts’ could be categorised in three ways, - negative thoughts about themselves, the world and the future. From this point Dr. Beck started to help his clients identify these negative thought processes and then evaluating them. His clients then began to be able to think and feel much more rationally and consequently felt better both mentally and emotionally, which in turn allowed them to live, and behave in a much more natural and everyday manner.
CBT however is more than just a benefit for mental health, it is also a coping mechanism - helping people to deal better with anxiety or depression - thus having a positive effect on physical health. This consequently leads to less hospitalisation and diminishes dependency on medication and the services of your Doctor and helping you to get back to work where relevant, or just simply by enjoying life again.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can be used to help with a variety of problems, from minor to major mental health issues such as, anxiety, panic attacks, OCD, depression (both uni-polar & bi-polar), insomnia, eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, IBS, stress, reducing weight, anger issues, relationship concerns (including jealousy), mood swings, alcohol abuse / excesses etc. Over the last four years, CBT has become the preferred therapy, both encouraged and recommended by Doctors and the psycho-medical associations alike. It is now the number one therapy of choice of clients consulting with both medical and psychiatric personnel, and particularly, General Practitioners, who will assure their patients of the benefits of seeing a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. Once an ‘ailment’ is allowed to take root, we tend to develop negative or inflexible ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. These thought and behaviour processes which can often seem to escalate over time, then become a ‘belief system’ and it can seem as if we will never be able to rid our selves of them. However, these seemingly by now rigid beliefs CAN be changed.
CBT can therefore be considered as a structured therapy working to a model which suits and encourages the patient’s participation and involvement. Invariably the new client is in a stressed and / or confused state. Initially therefore I work with the client to enable relaxation and to let go of any reasons why – whether these are perceived at an initial / conscious level or not. I then move on to challenging your behaviour patterns and thought processes to help you put structures and thought patterns there to cope with the requirements of everyday living. It is vitally important therefore to be aware that I do not wave any magic wand over you and that you must become actively engaged in the various therapeutic exercises that I will discuss with you.
You will find that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy addresses the waves of desperation that occur with so many disorders. CBT challenges and transforms those negative thoughts, the feelings of hopelessness and the over critical / irrational way we can view ourselves and also those feelings of being out of control. It will also help you recognise which life issues are major and subsequently those that are minor and will assist you in developing positive thoughts / goals, self confidence and self esteem.
The therapy transforms the areas of your life that are causing the anxieties, which add to the way you are thinking, feeling and behaving. And will also assist in repairing relationship problems. Frequently some 6-8 sessions of CBT will be required, normally or optimally on a weekly basis where possible. The therapy is therefore tailored to a client’s individual needs, and you WILL begin to relax and become more in control of your thoughts, feelings and behaviours. I will ultimately introduce better coping skills and strategies which will help you to enjoy your life so much more.