Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is an evidence-based therapy which has proven to be highly effective in overcoming a wide range of problems. The main principle of CBT is that our thoughts affect how we feel and then how we behave.

One of the main skills learnt through CBT is understanding how negative thoughts about situations might be unhelpful and clients are helped to develop alternative thoughts that are more flexible and realistic. This in turn will help gain a more balanced emotion and deal with the situation in a more constructive way.

CBT offers a structured and problem solving approach. It is often a short term treatment that can last between 6 and 20 sessions although it is also highly effective to treat more complex and chronic problems which normally would require more long-term therapy.

CBT focuses on the present but also includes an understanding of how past experiences affect our emotions and behaviour now. Clients are helped to gain insight into how their beliefs and patterns of behaviour may have protected them in the past but are currently preventing them from reaching desired values and goals.

Therapists use a collaborative approach helping the client move from their problems to their goals. It focuses on understanding how the problem developed and what the person might be doing to maintain it. It is a structured and pragmatic way of working  teaching practical tools and techniques for overcoming problems.

CBT aims at empowering clients to become their own therapist , therefore, there is an emphasis on ‘homework’ or in between session tasks that the client does to apply what they have learnt in therapy.