At Spire Regency Hospital, Macclesfield, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy or CBT is offered by our fully trained and experienced psychotherapist, Dr Verina Wilde . You can ask to be referred by your GP or simply contact us and make an appointment yourself directly.
Mental Health Problems
Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (CBT) is a method of therapy or counselling that has been shown to have positive results for many people. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has identified Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy as the psychological treatment of choice for many conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders. Many other mental and physical health problems have been shown to benefit from this approach including social skills problems, body dysmorphic disorder, sexual abuse, habit disorders, bereavement and abnormal grief reaction.
Physical Health Problems
It is increasingly recognised that CBT is also effective in helping people to manage their physical health problems. The focus is on helping the person to manage their condition more effectively and thus improve their function and quality of life. These conditions can be divided into three categories :
- Disturbance of bodily function (infertility, IBS, hypertension, asthma, sleep problems, skin conditions, rheumatoid arthritis, stroke and diabetes) In doctoral research the role of Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy in depression and infertility has been explored.
- Disturbance of perception of symptoms (or hypersensitivity to normal bodily sensations). This includes hypochondriasis, somatization disorder, idiopathic pain disorder, hysterical conversion and body dysmorphic disorder
- Problems where the basis of symptoms varies or is uncertain. This includes chronic pain, male and female sexual problems, chronic fatigue syndrome, pre menstrual syndrome, migraine, vestibular symptoms, functional chest pain and disproportionate breathlessness.
Issues in which Cognitive Behaviour Therapy can help
- Surgery: the managment of pre-operative anxiety, adjustment to the trauma of diagnosis or invasive treatment and post-operative body image problems following mastectomy, stoma surgery or amputation
- Dealing with loss (of role, bodily function or aims in life) and specifically the loss within miscarriage, termination, infertility and stillbirth
- Planning, prioritising and pacing around the restrictions of illness
- Improving adherence to medical (and dietary) advice and improving compliance with treatment (e.g. in diabetes and cardiovascular conditions)
- Coping with unpleasant physical symptoms, including pain
- Dealing with anxieties and uncertainties over the course of the disease
- Learning to manage chronic conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome and arthritis
- Reduction of hypochondriacal fears and inappropriate use of medical facilities
- Male and female sexual problems including those associated with specific physical conditions (e.g. erectile dysfunctions and altered body image problems following surgery)
- Coping with cancer
- Exploring family relationships associated with illness