What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?
Cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT is a form of therapy which emphasises helping you to develop skills that will help you to not only reach your goals now but also to be able to maintain good mental health long after therapy has finished. All of the techniques used are grounded in scientific research and proven to be effective in managing a variety of problems. Because of this style of approach it is a NICE recommended first line intervention for many mental health disorders. Broadly speaking, CBT focuses on two main areas. Firstly, there are our cognitions, or thoughts. Working on these can involve analysing or challenging our moment to moment thoughts, underlying beliefs (such as seeing ourselves as a bad person), or the processes that surround our thoughts like our inbuilt threat detection biases or difficult memories.
Secondly, CBT explores our behaviour patterns. When we are having mental health difficulties we can often fall into cycles of avoidance or over checking things. We may also struggle with other difficulties like low motivation. In some circumstances we may fall in to behavioural habits that feel helpful in the moment, but keep our issues going overall. In targeting this area we can help to identify and reduce any bad habits and help you to develop healthier coping strategies that will help you to reach your goals. CBT is usually offered on a weekly basis for around an hour at a time. The total number of sessions can vary depending on what is being targeted, but usually in most cases you can expect somewhere between 8-16 sessions would be recommended. Treatment will usually involve several key phases.
Initial assessment: In your first sessions we would be working to understand the underlying difficulties that you want to work on. We would clarify your therapy goals and complete a routine risk assessment as well.
Formulation: Following assessment we move on to formulation. This is where we will look at various models to help you to understand the psychological mechanisms around the difficulties we’re working on. Each model discussed will be specific to the problem we are targeting. At this point I will be able to outline each step in our treatment plan in detail.
Following sessions: The majority of the rest of the sessions will focus on helping you to develop strategies to reach your goals using a combination of cognitive and behavioural techniques. In this phase you may find it helpful to bring a notebook to sessions. We will also be setting home practices for you to have a go at techniques in between sessions and build your confidence.
Final sessions: In our final one or two sessions the focus will be on helping you to maintain your progress going forwards after therapy has finished. I will help you to create a robust plan to keep your momentum and manage any dips that you may run into. At our final session we may also discuss any recommendations for future support or I may signpost you to helpful organisations for specific issues outside of the scope of CBT.
For further information on CBT you can visit the BABCP website: https://babcp.com/what-is-cbt/